


Countdown to The Final Round

by Writer_of_Time_and_Space



Series: Sburb: Reset [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Dave and Karkat are friends, Doc Scratch is a jerk, F/M, I'll figure out the rest of the relationships later, Karkat's here so of course there's swearing, No one remembers anything except Dave and Karkat, Oh and John and Dave are bros, Original Character(s), Swearing, after the game, alot of traveling, everyone has powers, for now, have fun with that, let the games begin, probably POV, sad stuff, trolls are human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-05-05 09:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5369516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writer_of_Time_and_Space/pseuds/Writer_of_Time_and_Space
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if I told you the Game wasn't over yet, that this was only part one? That you still are a character in my game that only passed one level? Well the truth is you are. You are still playing but from here on out it gets harder. So here are the rules and some tips:<br/>1. In each session there is one who remembers, you have to convince the others to remember<br/>2. Besides the characters you know of there was another session with four other kids, Delta and you have to find them<br/>3. Since you can't remember how the first level ended figure it out yourself.<br/>4. I suggest you find and convince everyone of those players to join because you will need all the help you can get.<br/>5. You all still have your powers, use them wisely and don't screw things up<br/>6. Try not to die<br/>7. Remember that I am still the one who is in control of this game<br/>The Countdown begins soon, you have 413 days to find everyone and prepare. Once that time limit is up, well the Game is going to start off with a Big Bang if you know what I mean. So I wish you good luck at trying to win. Because. It All. Starts. Now. </p>
<p>Dave= Wake up</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wake Up As if Everything's Okay

The Countdown has not begun.

Dave=Wake up

No screw that you are still going to sleep.

Dave= Move your ass

"Shut up"

Dave= Start moving before the narrator starts beating the living shit out of you

"Ugh"

With an irritated grunt you open your eyes wondering why the hell you have to wake up so early. It is pitch black, you can't see anything. You start freaking out and start grabbing your face. Except you can't, there is something on you. After a minute of muffled screams and swearing you get whatever's on your face off. It's a smuppet doll. You got to be fucking kidding me. But before you start swearing you realize where you are. There are apple juice bottles on the floor, a wide variety of smuppet dolls on your bed and a crow at your window. You're home.

Dave= Look out window

You look out the window to see actual buildings outside, not LOHAC. Below you are cars honking and people walking by. You're home, on Earth you are actually back home.

Dave= Freak the fuck out

And you do there are a bunch of questions in your head and right now you're just really confused. So you decide to stop and think about it for a moment. The last thing you remember was getting ready to fight one of the Jack Noirs and then what? Fuck you don't remember. You try to think harder like your brain is suppose to have labour but all you get is a brain fart. You can't remember how it all ended, the Game and how it ended. Well what ever you did you ended up right where you started. Back home. Your first response is to go to your pesterchum and talk to everyone else.

ectoBiologist not found

What? you try again and it still says not found. You try looking up everyone else. NOT FOUND is the the only thing you get from your computer. Where the hell is everyone? 

You try again just to be sure and still nothing. What the hell is going on? How come no one is replying? Unless... Was it all a dream? You quickly push that thought away. No that would be fucked up and stupid at the same time. Besides that wouldn't explain why your bro would be here, I mean you practically feel his presence every time he's near. But he isn't, and neither is Cal. You sigh. At least that abomination is not here you hate that thing.

You start thinking about what to do next. You could stay here and do nothing like what you were suppose to do before you woke up or you could try to visit one of your friends and get some information on what really happened. Although you are really hoping to do option one you decide to do option two instead. you decide that John is the best person to visit since he doesn't live on a island like Jade or lives in the middle of a forest like Rose. Now, didn't he say he lived in Washington? You quickly Google up John Egbert's name along with Washington and you find his address within two seconds. You start to book the quickest flight to Washington.

Prepare yourself John Egbert, you are about to get a rude awakening.

Dave= Be no one  
.  
.  
.  
..  
...  
You are now no one, well no one you need to know just yet. You are watching everything happen in your white ball or sphere or whatever you want to call it. You smile. Everything's going to plan. One of the players is already awake and moving. The rest though are just blindly going around minding their own business. You decide not to start the countdown yet, after all he's just starting and there is still a long way to go. Once he finds the other two representatives from the troll and delta session then you will start it. Right now you will bid your time and wait. You trust that everything will get more exciting later. You watch him rush around to catch a taxi. Oh won't he be in for a surprise. He doesn't know what you are planning or the rules of this little game you have for him. Well he'll know soon enough, after all you are the one controlling this thing and he is just another pawn to take over. 

 

-The Countdown has not started yet


	2. When Nothing Goes As Planned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are Dave Strider and your plan doesn't work out. But someone sees that too, someone who has been watching you since the very moment you woke up.

-The Countdown has not started yet

Dave Strider= Get on Plane  
You would if this stupid line would move any faster. Right now you are waiting to board the plane and you have been for almost fifteen minutes. As you impatiently tap your foot waiting in line you think about what you are going to do. 

Step 1: Use Bro's credit card to buy a ticket to Washington. Check.  
Step 2: Sit your lazy ass on a plane for about two and a half hours.  
Step 3: Knock on John's door and ask him if he knows what the fuck is going on.

Okay so you have to still do steps two and three but they aren't that hard.

" um sir, your ticket?"

You realize that the lady is waiting for you to hand your ticket to her. You apologize and give your ticket. After checking it she tells you to follow down the hall to get to the plane. Once you get inside the plane you search for your seat. Great. You are in the middle seat. It shouldn't be that bad but you are sitting beside a guy who smells like rotten cheese and a grandma who is knitting a scarf. You hold your breath and go sit down. 

"oh dear, something smells in here, I think I should open up a window."

Shit. Grandma is trying to open up a window.

"Um, lady?," Make sure she doesn't open up the window or try to anyway. "You can't open the window, you're in an air plane so I don't think that would be a good idea."

Grandma pauses for a minute taking in what you said

"Aw thanks," she smiles at you "You're such a good boy."

And then Grandma pinches your cheeks. Hard. You didn't even know grandmas can pinch so hard, you can feel your cheeks throbbing. The smelly guy to your right already falls asleep while Grandma starts singing. The flight attendant announces that they are about to lift off. You sigh, this will be a long ride.

Dave= Knock at John's door

It is now one in the afternoon, you have just arrived at John's house after taking a taxi from the airport. Before you left though Grandma waves to you good bye and gives you twenty dollars. You don't question it though, you take the money and wave good bye. Congratulations, you just received twenty dollars from a random old lady and you in no way feel bad about it.

Dave=knock on the door

You stand there frozen, you're hand inches away from the door. Crap this looks harder than it looks. For about five minutes you stand there frozen, with your hand waiting to knock. 

"Um, can I help you?"

A young man stares at you, it just so happens that you are standing in front of his door. Shit, it's Egbert, quick say something!

" oh uh sup, nice seeing you again"

"Oh do I know you?"

"Of Course you do, wait-fuck no you don't" Smooth Strider, very smooth.

John looks at you strangely, it seems he has no recollection of you. Well screw that you are going to talk more anyway.

"Sorry, I was actually passing by and I'm here to explain a game for the company I work at."

"Aren't you a little young to work at a company?" John looks at you with suspicious eyes.

'Actually It's part-time. Anyway the game is called Sburb and it's actually really sick. In fact our online survey says you would be really interested."

He looks at you and you both end up being silent. And suddenly he replies back.

"Look, who ever you are I think you got the wrong person."

"Um, my name is Dave Strider"

"Well, Dave I honestly give damn about your "game" and I think you should leave now, so get off my property!"

There's that awkward silence again. John looks at you so seriously that you can tell he's not joking. He really doesn't remember. You start to turn around and walk away but before that-

"Sorry, well if you are interested just look up my chumhandle on pesterchum."

"What the hell is pesterchum?"

You sigh and give him a piece of paper with your chumhandle. Then you run away before he can reply back. Congratulations Strider, you lost one of your best friends.

You decide to get home as quickly as you can and try to catch the next flight. You realized your phone is ringing. Someone pestered you on pesterchum.

Well it looks like your plan didn’t work out after all.

What the heck?

turntechGodhead (TG) logged on

TG: Who the fuck is this?

No response. wait-

Δ

TG: what the heck is that suppose to mean?

You have no response again for another five minutes. Then it shows up.

You have a little more time before the Game starts. Find the others who remember. Find the troll and Delta. I will speak with all of you when it starts.

TG:What! Why? Who the hell are you?

This time there is really no response. The person stopped pestering you. great. Now you are left with more questions. What the hell is this “Game”? Who are looking for? After all that's happened you really just want to go home. But now you know. There is someone controlling what happened and knows you remember. Someone is using you and your friends for this “Game” and you’re going to figure out why.

 

Dave=be someone

Well that was amusing. You see how flustered and confused he is and that makes you happy. Good. You are still the one who knows everything,the one who is controlling the Game. You just gave him a little push that’s all. Just so that he goes in the right direction. Now he will meet the delta and soon the troll. All you have to do is wait until they meet up. Waiting and waiting and waiting.  
Someone= Be someone else entirely.

You are now someone you have not met or know at all. You are waiting in the airport catching the next flight from Washington to California. You had just visited the Smithsonian on important matters and now you have to quickly get moving again. Apparently the flight will stop in Texas so you will go there just to relax for a bit. You feel odd though. For some reason in your Mind it feels as if something very important is going to happen today, you just don’t know what.

-The Countdown has not started yet.

 

-But it will.Soon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yay! I'm done the second chapter! John isn't go buy your propaganda shit Dave. By the next chapter we will be introduced to one of original characters. I still have to figure out how to make the pesterlog with the different colours though. If you Still can't guess who the "someone" is, you should have by now but again this will be revealed within the next two chapters I think. Until then please continue reading!


	3. Those Damn Time Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations Dave you can go back in time. Now go talk to the mysterious girl who is sitting beside you.

-The Countdown has not started yet

Dave= barely catch the plane on time.

“Shut up I made it okay!”

You rush to your seat as the plane starts to lift off. You're stuck in the middle seat again. You gotta be kidding me.This time you are wedged beside a fat man (on your right) and a girl who looks about your age that takes the window seat. She never looks at you though, she just keeps listening to music on her phone. You don’t care, you are exhausted from everything that happened today and all you want to do is catch your breath.

“Would you like something to drink sir?”

One of the flight attendants smiles at you pushing a cart of drinks and snacks. You sigh.

“Yeah I would like an apple juice.”

She gives you a juice box and you thank her.Surprisingly this was the best thing that happened to you today.

Dave= glance at the girl drawing in her notebook. 

No, really? You were just going to spend the rest of the flight looking at the fat guy, the one who is spilling into your own seat and been snoring like a mammoth.Not that you know how a mammoth sounds when it snores. You know what pretend you never thought about it.

Back to the girl. You still can’t see her face but you realize her hair is really black, like the night sky black. Besides that you notice that she is wearing a dark brown leather jacket. You don’t know why you are just looking at her but then again you are bored to death and you have nothing to do. You ask one of the flight attendants for another juice box and she gives you one. Then you continue to watch her draw.

You can’t precisely see what she’s drawing but after a few minutes she shuffles a bit and now you could see exactly what she’s drawing. You see four separate squares that make up a bigger square. And then she proceeds to draw a triangle above the square made up of smaller squares. It takes you a second to realize what she’s drawing. She is drawing the sburb symbol.

Without even thinking your hand taps her shoulder.

“Um excuse me? How do you know that symbol?”

She doesn’t respond. You think she can’t hear you because she shrugs it off. Damn her music is too loud.

You pause and think on what to do. 

Your hands grab her notebook.

She turns around “Hey what are you-?”

And then you squeeze the juice box so hard that apple juice spills all over her.

Fuck. Your hands don’t want to work with you.

“So um how do you know this symbol?”

And now apparently your mouth.

Her eyes are closed.”You do realize that you just spilled juice on me and in my eyes. Ow this really stings.”

“Oh yeah, sorry, so um that symbol that you drew with the house how do you know it?”

Really Dave? You just spilled juice on her.

“The house? It’s a symbol of some game, okay? Now do you want to move I can’t see and I need to go to the washroom?”

Some game.

The Game. Sburb. She knows the Game. Well you think so.

“Wait what do you mean?”You call out to her. 

“Hey get out of the way!” She tells you and your legs fail you. Because she can’t see she trips over your legs and falls face first into the ground.

“What the fuck!” She swears and you realize that everyone’s looking at her. Luckily the fat guy is still asleep.

She slowly opens her eyes and she sees everyone looking at her. Her face immediately turns bright red and she storms off into the washroom with her hair dripping.

Congratulations Dave. That escalated quickly. In five minutes you embarrassed a girl.  
All of a sudden you feel a buzz from your pocket. Someone texted you on pesterchum.

oh dear that didn’t work out well.

TG: who the fuck are you?!

relax, you’ll know me soon enough but you need to do a redo with the encounter with that girl.

TG:who was she? did she play the game?

maybe, I mean she could be important.

TG: stop with the fucking games and tell me who you are!!!

my,my aren't you impatient. oh well, you have to do a redo so i'm sending you back in time.

Wait.What? You don't know what that meant, but all of a sudden you feel a sharp pain in your head. You clutch your head, it feels like something is pounding you. Then you hear a clock ticking. You can't take it any more, you want it to stop. Than as quickly as it happened it stops. You feel relief. But you still hear a ticking clock. The sound keeps echoing until...

Until there was nothing.

-the Countdown has not started yet

 

You have less than a day to find or talk to the representatives.

 

tick, tock dave.


	4. Deja Vu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now you have another redo so don't mess it up.

-The Countdown has not started yet.

Dave=Wake up

What?

Dave=Wake up

No I’m trying to sleep so be quiet already. Ow my head is killing me. This bed sucks.

Dave=You are not on a bed

What? What are you talking about?

Dave=Open your eyes and find out

You open your eyes and then you find yourself squinting. A light flashes at you. It’s the sun. The sun that is setting down. 

You look at your surroundings. You are in the airport, not on the plane. You try to recall what happened. The plane, the headache that is killing you and the-

i’m sending you back in time.

Without even knowing it, your hands grab for your cellphone in your pocket. No.Fucking.Way.  
You have gone back in time. Well more specifically an hour back in time, but still it’s something. You try to remember what else happened but then you hear an announcement. They are calling one last time for the ride to Texas. Your plane ride. Fuck. Once again you have to sprint dash again for the plane.

Dave=Sit down

You are panting now, catching your breath because you ran all the way from the terminal to the plane. You made it just in time though. If you were just one minute late you might of had to chase the plane as it went on the runway.

You walk to find an empty seat. The only one you find is the one with the fat guy snoring. Great. You sit down with an exaggerated sigh and lean back on the chair. It takes you a second to remember the person sitting to your left. The girl with the night black hair. The one with who drew the Sburb symbol. The one who you splashed apple juice on.

you need to do a redo with that girl

Honestly you don’t want to. You are tired and exhausted and you have a massive headache. So you know what? You will deal with this after you take a nap. Right after you order some apple juice because you are actually really thirsty.

Dave= Wake up again

five more minutes.

Dave= Wake up right now

Screw you

Before you start mumbling and arguing with your brain that you should sleep some more you feel a light tap on your shoulder.

You wake up to see the girl leaning over you. It seems she wants a snack. 

“Oh sorry!”

That tapping was because she was trying to get her snack from one of the flight attendants.

“Oh it’s okay.”

You are now really awake and decide not to go back to sleep. Now it’s about time you talk to her. You don’t want to, but you probably should. You continue to debate whether or not you should talk to her and out of the corner of your eye, you feel her looking at you.

“Um excuse me?” 

Shit. She is talking to you. Now you have to reply.

“Uh yeah?”

She is not looking at you directly but she talks. “ I know this is stupid and we probably haven't met before but do I know you?”

You shake your head. Wow if she really just a normal person that might have been one of the most cheesiest pick up lines ever.

After that reply she looks at you strange. She is really looking straight at you. What startles you first is that her eyes are silver. Not like fake silver but actual silver, like the moon shining up in your face silver. She makes a skeptical face. You freeze up and don’t know what to say. You don’t have to. The second thing that startles you is the fact that in less than a second she grabs your apple juice, which has been lying on those table thingys because you were asleep, and splashes it in your face. Now it’s your turn to swear.

“What the hec-!”

Nope, she doesn’t even give you time to swear. Then in less than a minute she grabs your hand and drags you to the washroom without disturbing the fat man. Jeez that guy can sleep through anything.

Once in the washroom she locks the door behind her while you grab some paper towel to wipe your face. Before you can complain she takes out her note book, flips to a page and points at the drawing. The drawing of the Sburb symbol.

“So quick question- do you know this symbol?”

“What?”

She sighs and points at it again “The symbol, do you know where it’s from?”

You quickly think of what to say but you talk first instead. “A game, duh.”

This makes her a little bit annoyed but she presses onward. “What game?”

“A stupid one.”

She gives you a look that makes you think that she might slap you in the face.

Oops. “ uh no sorry. Sburb, that’s a symbol for a game called Sburb.”

She looks at you like she is about to throw daggers at you but then it quickly softens and she takes a deep sigh of relief.

“Oh good I’m not hallucinating then. I thought it was deja vu. I mean I thought this happen before but the outcome was different. You splashed apple juice on me before but this time I splashed it on you but at least you’re the the one who was wearing those sunglasses of yours instead of apple juice stinging your eyes.” 

The only reasonable response you can come up with is “Huh?” followed by a “Wait you know the Game too?”

She looks at you for a second and smiles. “What? You didn’t think you were the only one who played the Game?”

What she says to you make no sense. it takes you a second to organize your thoughts.

“Okay, so let me get this straight you played too? What version?”

She smirks at you. “Wow you really are slow. I just said I did and it was a Delta version.”

find the delta

You feel as if pieces are connecting together and it actually makes you more confused.

She looks at you and decides to take this opportunity to talk. “I mean I think that was what it was called. I played this game long time ago so it’s kind of foggy, but I never met anyone else who actually played it too. The first time you talked to me I thought you were just crazy but after, when I went into to the washroom I realized that no one would know about the symbol unless they even remembered the Game.”

She pauses for a long time and you see her eyes became suddenly hollow. “No one even remembers what happened, the players in my session, only me. So how come-” She looks more wearier at you and it feels as if you are looking at a child who wants answers. “How come only you remember?”

You both remain silent. You honestly don’t know what to tell her, you don’t even know why everyone else, or really just John since he is the only one you have met, doesn’t remember.

Luckily you don’t have to answer. The pilot announces that the plane was landing and that everyone should go back to their seats.

She sighs and unlocks the door and both of you go to your own seats. The landing only takes about five minutes and in those minutes you both don’t speak to one another. When everyone starts to get up and go away she walks ahead of you, grabs her duffel bag and starts to make her way out of the plane. You chase after her to find her lined up in customs. 

In the line you feel an urge to talk to her again, instead she speaks up. 

“Do you have a chumhandle?”

You try to nod but she already shoves a paper in your hand.

“Here is my chumhandle. I have to go somewhere soon but I would still like to talk to you. Your name is?”

“Dave Strider.” You don’t know how you are easily giving your own name to someone you just met on a plane but it turns out you give her your chumhandle too.  
She smiles a bit. “Thanks. My name is Fate Memori.”

You laugh. “What kind of name is that?” She gives you a face and you think you offended her but instead she looks hollow again.

“A pretty ironic one really.” She forces a smile. “Well see ya Strider.” Before you can catch her she waves and walks forward and you lose her in the crowd. Man today really was a long day.

Dave= Be the girl

You are now the girl and you feel really heavy. You are in a taxi driving to a hotel you are staying in and then you feel your phone buzz. Someone on pesterchum sent you a message.

well that was fun.

ruinsDeity logged on

RD:What was?

the meeting with the boy.

RD:What do you want? You haven’t talked to me in three years and even then I didn’t want to talk to you.

what? i can’t catch up with an old friend?

RD:We aren’t friends you psycho.

oh yeah that’s right. i was friends with one of the other players. no i’m just here to play with you. after all things are about to get interesting.

And with that you throw out your phone out the window.

-The Countdown has not started yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So her name does sound a bit weird but it has a lot of meaning so bare with it. And here are some things you need to know
> 
> Name: Fate Memori  
> Age: 16 (like practically everyone else)  
> Session:Delta  
> chum handle: ruinsDeity  
> hair colour: night sky black  
> eye colour: silver  
> God tier: I'm not telling you yet


	5. You Are Not in Alternia Anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now to the troll.

-The Countdown has not started yet

=Hey wake up

No 

=Wake up

Why should I?

=Because I told you to so wake up

What are you my fucking alarm clock?

=Actually yes, so beep beep WAKE UP

Your name is Karkat Vantas and you are a grumpy little cat cause you do not like waking up. No actually you are a troll who is sleeping in his own little cocoon. Except you’re not. You are in a rectangular thingy that is strangely comforting. You get up and turn to the sound of the beeping. The alarm clock. You turn it off, swearing, wondering why you have an alarm clock in the first place. Then you rub your eyes. It takes you a second to realize your hands. They aren’t grey. 

The first thing you want to do is freak out because you don’t change skin colour over night. Well not from grey to whatever this is. You, out of instinct, reach on top of your head for your horns. They aren’t there, I mean you know your horns are small but they aren’t flat. You presume you are just grumpy and hallucinating and that your eyesight must be blurry and that is why you are seeing this. That doesn’t stop you from freaking out. You are freaking out a lot. Enough to yell and squirm. Enough to fall off your rectangular thingy.

You are now flat face on the ground and well you are practically yelling and rolling on the floor because you can and it is satisfying so why are you judging. After five minutes of that you look at where you are. You are in a small room. The first thing you notice in your room is a computer. You try to login in to your trollian. It doesn’t work. You try again. NOTHING. NADA. You try looking up everyone else’s trollian. Still nothing. You are now confused and frustrated. What the heck is going on?!

After some frustrating yelling you stop staring at the computer and look around and find a mirror so you approach it. You look at your complexion.

You were not hallucinating. 

This is not you.

This can’t be you.

It is not you. 

But then why-? Why is he mimicking you? Why does he blink when you blink?  
Why does he touch the mirror like you? Why is he yelling like you? Why does he slam the glass like you? Why does he slump down like what you are doing right now?

Face it Karkat.

It takes you a second to think through it, but now you know.

Your name is Karkat Vantas and you are now human.

You rethink everything, what happened and how you got here. Except you can’t. 

What happened before this? What were you doing? And all of a sudden it hits you.

The Game. Sburb. You were about to finish. You were off to meditate. And then- and then what?

You glance again around the room and you see a window. You peek out. 

You know that this isn’t your hive but you don’t even know where you are. All you know is that this is not Alternia. 

So great, you are in some random place and in some mutant body and have no recollection of how the Game ended. Besides that you are all alone, you don’t know where everyone else is and you don’t have a trollian. This is so FUCKING great.

You take a deep breath. You feel that all of this is wrong, no you KNOW all of this is wrong. This couldn’t have happened. But you try to do the practical thing. 

You are pretty sure the rest of the trolls are going through this and are probably confused as you are. So you have to find them. You have to make a plan.

After all, you are a Leader.

So the first thing you do is go on to the computer again and create a trollian, wait that doesn’t exist here. So you decide to create a chumhandle instead.

You think all of this through. You haven’t even checked John’s and everyone else’s pesterchum. So you have to do that too.

In your gut you are pretty sure someone is fucking trolling you and you have to figure out who.

You are going to find answers.

-The Countdown has not started yet.  
.  
.  
..  
…  
….  
…..  
……

And so another player awakens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This escalated quickly. Well soon the Countdown will start and now you kind of know who are main three is (For now). Since it is the holidays I think I may be able to update at least every other day. So thank you for reading this far and please make comments!


	6. Pesterlogs and reasoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which every single player gets together on pesterchum to figure out what the fuck is going on.

-The Countdown has not started yet

Dave= Pester Fate

You are determining to or should. The series of things that happened in the past day has confused you very much and you are still trying to adjust to it. It’s no doubt that this girl knows about the Game but you still don’t know if you should trust her or not. For all you know she could just be someone who is actually the creeper who has been stalking you, wait you mean texting you all this creepy stuff. That and the fact that it is almost midnight. Oh wait it looks like you don’t have to, someone is already pestering you.

CG: DAVE? ARE YOU THERE?  
CG: DAVE YOU BETTER BE THINKING OF ANSWERING RIGHT NOW AND THAT’S THE REASON YOU ARE NOT ANSWERING.  
CG: LOOK WE HAVE A SITUATION, I CAN’T FIND ANYONE ELSE’S TROLLIANS OR PESTERLOGS.  
CG:I ONLY FOUND YOURS WHICH IS GOOD I GUESS, BUT IT WOULD HELP IF YOU ANSWERED.  
CG: I’M STUCK IN THIS WEIRD PLANET AND I WOKE UP IN A STRANGE ROOM SO IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU TOLD ME WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW.  
CG: ACTUALLY I DON’T REALLY CARE WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW YOU SHOULD BE TALKING TO ME BECAUSE I DON'T THINK THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SITUATION WE HAVE RIGHT NOW.  
CG: SO GOG SO HELP ME IF YOU ARE DOING NOTHING AT ALL I WILL FIND YOU AND BEAT SOME SENSE INTO YOU SO WE CAN FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT.

turntechGodhead logged on 

TG: oh hey karkat what’s up.  


CG: DON’T YOU DARE WHAT'S UP ME. IT HAS BEEN TWENTY MINUTES SINCE I PESTERED YOU, YOU SHOULD HAVE ANSWERED ALREADY.  


TG: sorry i’ve been busy  


CG: SERIOUSLY. THAT’S WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY. CAUSE I DON’T THINK THERE IS ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THIS.  


TG: yeah, um i think there might be.  


CG: WHAT  


TG: yeah it’s a little bit complicated but i think someone is playing us.  


CG: OH REALLY? WHAT GAVE YOU THAT IDEA? WAS IT THE FACT THAT WE ARE NOT IN THE GAME ANYMORE? THE FACT THAT I CAN’T REMEMBER HOW THE GAME ENDED? THE FACT THAT I CAN’T FIND ANYONE ELSE?  


TG: well there’s that but there is also another thing.  


CG: AND THAT IS?  


TG: well um. fuck this is complicated.

ruinsDeity logged on  


RD: Dave? This is Dave right? Shit, please don’t tell me I got this wrong.  


CG: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?  


RD: Um oops sorry wrong chumhandle I didn’t mean to bother you.  


TG: i’m here, it’s me, dave  


RD: Oh good. Um who is the dude talking in capitals?  


CG: I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THE SAME THING. DAVE WHO IS THIS PERSON?  


RD: I’m a Sburb player.  


CG: WHAT.  


TG: yeah she is the other thing. fate memori this is karkat vantas, karkat this is fate.  


CG: WHAT KIND OF NAME IS THAT?  


RD: I should be asking you the same thing. Wait. Does that say Kitkat?  


CG: WHAT THE HECK IS A KITKAT?  


RD: Um you know, chocolate?  


CG: THAT SOUNDS HORRIBLE.  


RD:*gasps* How dare you mock candy.  


TG: she’s right bro that is just sad.  


CG: WHY ARE YOU SIDING WITH HER?  


TG: dude, candy is candy. it’s like you peed in someone’s apple juice.  


CG: DO NOT DISCUSS YOU BODILY FLUIDS WITH ME.  


RD: Wait just a second. Are you a troll?  


CG: WHAT? NO I AM JUST A CRAB PESTERING YOU WITH MY HUGE ASS CLAWS.  


RD: Wouldn’t it be hard for you to type then?  


TG: ha ha burn.  


CG: OF COURSE I’M A TROLL.  


RD: Oh okay then. Sorry I haven’t talk to trolls in a while they kind of died.  


CG: WHAT>  


TG: okay so are you guys done? can we talk about what’s happening?  


CG: THAT'S WHAT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO.  


RD: i don’t know what’s going on.  


TG: Okay quick review. me and karkat were playing the game and we were about to finish it. but then all of a sudden i’m guessing we both woke up here, on earth.  


CG: WAIT I’M ON EARTH?  


TG: i think so. so continuing on, so like karkat said we can’t find any of our friends on their pesterchum or trollians so i went to see john.  


CG: YOU SAW JOHN?  


TG: dude let me finish. so when i talked to him he didn’t remember me at all or the game itself. then i met you on the plane. i saw you drawing the sburb symbol and asked you about it and then i accidently threw juice in your face.  


RD: Yeah I remember that.  


TG: but that technically didn’t happen. someone made do some weird time shit and i went back in time because the person wanted me to do a redo of talking to you. so the main problem here is what’s happening and who is watching us?  


who indeed?  


CG:WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?  


TG: whoa where did you come from?  


yeah i wonder who? i just came here to visit all of the representatives. by the way thanks for gathering all together it saves me a hassle of doing stuff. yes it’s so nice to be in my own colours again. don’t you agree?  


CG: STILL HAVEN'T ANSWERED MY QUESTION.  


aw but you guys should know already. fate? are you there? what’s wrong can’t answer?  


RD: What do you want?  


TG: you know this person?  


she should, after all i did get acquainted with all of her friends. oh and you are asking what i want? well that’s simple. I want you to play the GAME again. 

-The Countdown has not started yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that's um great. So as by now we should all know who the dude is. The pesterlogging takes a while actually but by now we should kind of get what's going on. Sorry I took a while, holidays are when I procrastinate too long and sleep really late. Oh well, enjoy this chapter. The next chapter will have some info on my OC (at least one of them that is.)


	7. So Are You Going To Play Or Not?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where all of the players have to decide if they are going to play or not. But first you get some info on the new girl.

-The Countdown has not started yet

(Three years or about that much ago) A young girl stands in a deserted battlefield. It just so happens that today, the 11th of November is her-

ERROR

November 11th is her-

ERROR

Novemb-

ERROR

What? Oh I can’t post that? Fine then.

Whatever day it was for the girl it was a very long one, she can’t even tell how long it has been since it started. The Game. Or Sburb I guess. She and her friends have been playing it all day, until now. Yes she enjoyed having fun and creating and learning all new things but of course all good things must come to an end. But this time it wasn’t suppose to, it wasn’t suppose to end this way.

oh well, well look what we have here.

What do you want?

what I can’t talk to you?

Stop talking in my head.

aw but I just wanted to congratulate you.

On what?

on winning of course. 

Winning what? You probably can see what’s been going on up in that ball of yours, you know.

of course i know sweety. i know that you are the greatest and number one.

What?

aw come on you know. This is a GAME. there have to be some winners and losers and luckily you are a winner.

REALLY?! THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS TO YOU?! BECAUSE OF THIS STUPID GAME ALL MY FRIENDS ARE-

look, their MINDS couldn’t handle it. you were chosen to play because of your qualities and your friends were too, it just that in the end they weren’t good enough. don’t be sad you can create the universe again in fact as a bonus you get all of your friends powers and the powers of your troll friends too. see? isn’t that a good deal? now come on now and build up your universe, anyway you want it to be. you are the one that lasted and survived and won. you have received the ultimate victory. thanks for playing.

A young girl stands in a deserted battlefield. It is silent and cold. There is blood spattered and bodies on the floor. In the vast emptiness she stands there, the weight of the universe on her shoulders and the sadness in her swallowing her up. She is all alone.

Today is November 11th. It just so happens that today is that young girl’s birthday. She is only thirteen years old. Because of one man who lurks in the shadows she has lost everything.

Today, November 11th is also considered Remembrance Day and for her she will never forget this. Afterall, it is her fate, such as her name implies. FATE MEMORI, the one who is fated to carry and hold on to these sad memories, the one who is to remember while all those have forgotten.

For her she is a Goddess known as a Sylph and a Goddess of the Mind. She can heal minds and think logically. She is sometimes rude, sarcastic, blunt and says things that she will soon regret. But she is also kind and understanding, trying to keep your mind at ease and to counsel you to guide your mind to be the brightest it can be. She is only but a girl who is smart, adventurous and curious. But she can be mature and practical. She daydreams in her head and her imagination runs wild. She takes hold of everything special and tries not to forget all the things she cares about. She tries to live everyday to the best it can be, appreciate the small things and often questions life itself. For she is a girl who has so much to live for.

But now she carries a burden and her mind can not forget. And it never will. Because sadly, she is faced to play this cruel game again.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to the present

=Be the girl freaking out

Your name is Fate Memori and yes you are freaking out. You knew this wasn’t a coincidence, three different people from three different sessions?! Well technically Karkat is a troll (still registering that) but still. In the three years since you have finished this game nothing happened. Then all of a sudden you meet this guy on a plane who knows the Game too. You didn’t want to believe it but you secretly knew. That he was still watching you all this time. You knew he had a plan. You just didn’t know this was it.

 

CG:WAIT SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT. YOU WANT US TO START PLAYING ANOTHER GAME? EVEN THOUGH ME AND DAVE DIDN’T EVEN FINISH THE OTHER ONE?  


yeah  


CG: AND WHY THE FUCK WOULD WE DO THAT?  


TG: yeah i’m with karkat on this one. that and you still haven’t told us who you are.  


really? but i know you guys and your friends. karkat, i was the one who blew up vriska’s arm. that little thief. and dave i knew your sister.  


TG: oh so you’re the dude who likes to be douche by messing everyone up.  


no i like to call it “being an outside influence to help out others”  


RD: More like helping yourself.  


oh, look at that! the girl speaks. aw are you still mad?  


RD: Why would I be? It’s not like it’s your fault for how the game ended. OH WAIT. It is.  


aw I just tried to boost up her confidence, you know help her out. what was her name again? leia? lucy? lilac? oh wait now I remember. her name was lily. i don’t know why but i just seem to fond of flowers. she was pretty too, just like rose. oh now where was i? oh right back to the GAME.  


TG: dude no one really gives a crap about this.  


but you should.  


CG: WHY?  


because the world is going to end soon. so i have decided to invite you to play another GAME. one that will start in 413 days.  


CG: SO WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO? SIT ON OUR ASSES UNTIL IT BEGINS?  


oh of course not. that would be boring.  


TG: so what?  


well dave as you just experienced your friend john didn’t remember you or the GAME at all and you couldn’t find anyone’s pesterchum. yeah that’s basically everyone else. so your jobs are to find everyone, make them remember and make them play with you. right now they all have been living pretty normal lives in fact the trolls think they’re human.  


TG: so we have to convince them to play?  


yes because you are going to need all the help you can get. oh and to help you out, as dave demonstrated you guys still have your powers. so do you guys accept?  


RD: No.  


excuse me?  


RD: Look you can’t do this. You can’t force people to play this stupid game so you can entertain yourself. I know you have been watching me for the three years since I finished the game. I finished the game okay. I won and created a universe so I’m done.  


TG: i’ll do it.  


RD: What?  


CG: WHAT?  


TG: look i’ll play and do this stupid game, it’s not like i have anything better to do.  


good job dave. now, anyone else?  


CG: I’M GOING TO DO IT, NOT TO ENTERTAIN YOUR SORRY ASS BUT TO FIND MY FRIENDS.  


and you fate?  


c'mon think about it this way if you help your friends you all can be winners.  


RD:...  


okay fine you can reply later. but remember this, this GAME is going to start with or without you so you can pretend to live normal or you can try to search for your survival. so good luck gentlemen! i’ll be watching you.

CG: IS HE GONE?  


TG: i think so.  


CG: GOOD. SO WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO NOW?  


TG: um good point.  


RD: Well first we should get together in person and talk about this.  


CG: I THOUGHT YOU DIDN”T WANT TO PLAY.  


RD: Look I’m considering it, besides have you guys actually finished the game before?  


CG: I WOULD HAVE IF IT WEREN'T FOR HIS SESSION.  


TG: whoa dude shots fired.  


RD: Okay whatever still I think we should meet up somewhere where we can all talk.  


CG: YEAH GUYS? I’M NEW TO EARTH SO I DON’T KNOW WHERE THE FUCK I AM.  


TG: okay you have a window right? look out and tell us what you see.  


CG: OKAY GIVE ME A MOMENT.  


CG: SO THE BIGGEST THING I SEE RIGHT NOW IS A STATUE OF THIS GREEN WOMAN WEARING SOME RIDICULOUSLY LONG CLOTH AND HOLDING A- WAIT IS THAT A CONE?  


RD: Oh so you’re in New York.  


CG: REALLY? IT DOESN’T LOOK SO NEW TO ME.  


RD: Whatever. Dave I’ll meet you at the airport and buy tickets for the next plane ride to New York.  


CG: WAIT. WHAT THE HELL IS A PLANE?  


RD: It’s basically a huge, metal, flying um, thing that people use as a source of transportation.  


CG: AND WHY WOULD YOU RIDE ON THAT?  


RD: To I don’t know, get to places faster? To get to continents that are far away? To travel a large enough distance that would be much more efficient than walking?  


CG: WHAT’S A CONTINENT?  


RD: Ugh! You know what? I’m going to leave now so I will meet you guys later.

ruinsDeity logged out of chat.

CG: IS SHE GONE?  


TG: yeah she just logged out.  


CG: SO DO YOU TRUST HER? SHE COULD BE WORKING FOR THE WHITE TEXT GUY.  


TG: no i don’t think so. she looks like she hates the dude a lot.  


TG: that and she sounds as frustrated and desperate as anyone else who played the game. so i think we can trust her.  


CG: AND IF YOU'RE WRONG?  


TG: well if i am wrong you can personally punch her in the face when you see her.  


CG: GOOD.  


TG: okay then, see you later karkat.

turntechGodhead logged out chat

carcinoGeneticist logged out of chat 

-413 days until Reset  
.  
..  
…  
….  


good luck. you’ll need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S FINALLY STARTING!!!! The Countdown that is. So if I made anyone sad at the beginning I am not sorry. If you don't feel sad then shame on you. So the Delta kids' god tiers are just the rest of the god tiers that didn't show up in the alpha or beta sessions. So the remaining aspects now are blood, rage and doom and the remaining titles are mage,thief and bard. I already know what the god tiers are going to be so you can figure out later. This is the last update for this year so for everyone that has been reading this I wish all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!


	8. Planes and Starbucks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our characters talk some more.

Dave= Wake up

You open your eyes. It’s still dark outside. Luckily this time you get the window seat. Fate agreed and didn’t care that much. For the second time in the 24 hours you have been back on Earth you barely catch the last flight for New York. So since the ride was going to take a while you decided to take a nap (after you have some apple juice). Now fate is waking you up.You see her try to reach for your glasses.

“What the heck are you doing?” You quickly swat her hand away.

She frowns. “Trying to wake you up, the pilot said we're about to land.”

“Yeah but that doesn’t explain why you tried to take my shades.”

“I just wanted to see what would happen. Luckily it woke you up.”

You rub your eyes and glance at her.

“So this Karkat fellow,” She decides to talk. “He doesn’t trust me very much. And I guess you don’t either.”

“What, no Karkat trusts you and so do I.”

She scoffs. “Nice sarcasm there. And you shouldn’t say that so easily you just met me what? Twelve hours ago? You shouldn’t put trust into someone you just met.”

“Yeah well you shouldn’t push some random guy in a bathroom just to talk to him.”

Her face gets flustered for a second, but it quickly fades away.

“And besides, I have to at least try and trust you, if you’re going to play the game or not.”

She sighs. “Yeah well, nevermind. We are meeting Karkat right?”

“Yeah.”

“But you said he was a troll.”

“Yeah so?”

“Don’t you think that a troll, an alien with grey skin and horns popping out of his head would make people, I don’t know,freak out.”

Oh wow you haven’t thought of that. “I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine, and the creepy white text guy said that all the trolls are human now.”

“Oh yeah I forgot about that.”

You have a nagging in your voice in your mind to try and talk to her about what happened in her game.

Instead the plane lands and you stay quiet. You continue to stay quiet when both of you get off the plane. And then you tell her you need to go to the washroom as an excuse not to talk to her, actually you really had to pee but still. You feel as if you’re going to get on a touchy subject if you talk to her about what happened.

Karkat: Wait in the terminal for them.

You are and have been for the last hour. You can’t understand how things work here. Apparently yelling for someone to drive you works. A yellow car takes you to the “airport” and you give him green paper that you found in your pocket. The driver seemed fine with that and you got out and went where you were supposed to go.

Now you are furiously tapping your foot waiting for them. Apparently the screen says that their plane should have landed by now. You see people coming out now but no one who looks like Dave. In fact that is the only way you could find them. This “Fate” person didn’t even tell you what she looked like. You keep looking around to see if you can spot them. No luck. In the corner of your eye you see a girl walking towards you. Black hair, leather jacket but the first thing you see are the eyes. Silver eyes. And they look like they are looking through you.

She walks right up to you. “So are you the troll?”

Your first response is “Who the fuck are you?”

She smiles. “Karkat Vantas I presume?”

“No I’m the crab with the huge ass claws.”

She laughs. “Oh okay then. Can you tell me if you can find an angry and grumpy looking guy? I’m suppose to meet him here.”

“Okay you stop with your dumb sarcasm. How the heck did you find me anyway?”

She looks at you. “Well you're the only one here with grey skin and the tiny horns on your head.”

“What?”

She puts one hand over one her eyes. “It’s like, I can see you as a troll but you’re also human, like the troll part of you is like an illusion. I guess it’s a way for players to see and find each other, especially if they are troll players.”

“Yeah that explains how I woke up as a human. How do you guys even work these things, it’s so strange.”

She raises her hands in defence. “Hey don’t ask me, ask Dave about the stuff that happens with you.”

“By the way where the hell is Dave?”

She shrugs. “He needed to go use the washroom. Probably too much apple juice.”

“Oh okay then.” You both are left in awkward silence.

“So what exactly happened to them?”

She gives you a confused face. “ Who?”

“Your trolls who were playing with you. You said they died in your game.”

“Oh.” Her voice goes harsh. “Let’s just say that they died ironic deaths.”

“Ironic?”

She turns away from you. “No it’s nothing.”

Shit you asked the wrong thing. Here you guys are at another awkward silence. 

You guys stand in silence until Dave shows up. “Hey what’s up guys.”

She crosses her arms. “You took a while.” 

He shrugs. “Hey blame the bladder not me.”

“The bladder is technically yours.”  
“Yeah okay fine.”

Fate sighs. “Okay fine, let’s go find somewhere to eat. It’s morning now and I need some breakfast.”

“Sure okay.”

Soon all three of you walk around looking around for food. You notice something out of the corner of your eye and you quickly hide behind Dave.

“What the heck are you doing?”

You whisper to both of them. “We are being watched.”

“By who?”

“The Condenser.” You point to a sign that looks like her. “That sign looks like her.”

Fate looks at you strange. “You mean Starbucks?”

“Is that her new corporation now? Is that how she’s watching us? I didn’t know she had more things here on Earth!”

Fate looks at Dave. “What the heck is he talking about?”

Dave sighs. “The lady he’s talking about is actually this huge troll lady who we had to fight in the Game. I don’t know how it ended but it she was something alright.”

Fate walks up to you. “I guarantee you that the Condesce is not here.”

You clutch onto Dave. “You sure?”

She leans in. “If she is here or if those cashiers are her spies I will personally kick their asses.’

“Really?”

“Hey I know how to fight. After everything we’ve been told, you can never be too sure.”

You hear Dave snickering and Fate elbows him. “Haha you gotta be kidding- Ow what the heck?”

Fate sighs. “Come on we’re going in.”

Dave=sit at the booth in Starbucks

After twenty minute waiting in the long line you successfully get two coffees and a strawberry frappuccino along with three breakfast wraps. There were no ninjas or spies inside which is surprisingly disappointing for you. Karkat was waiting for it and Fate just went straight in without caring at all. She also ordered for all three of you, telling you guys to sit in a booth and to make sure Karkat didn’t freak out. So now all three of you are just sitting down and Karkat is complaining, again.

“Okay, so let me get this straight, you guys would pay ten of these “dollars” for dark bitter water?”

Fate shrugs. “Hey I didn’t get coffee, I just got what you guys picked so are you just going to throw that out or-”

“I’m drinking it.” Karkat replies. 

You sit there sipping your coffee. Thinking about it now you should've asked her to get you some apple juice. Well nope too bad now you have to drink some bitter water.

So to take your mind off the coffee you start talking. “So where do we start with this whole thing?”

Both stop and they stare at you. Fate is the one to talk first. “You mean about Doc Scratch?”

“Well I believe he should go to hell.” Karkat replies. 

Fate sighs. “Well that isn’t really going to help you in this situation, now is it?”

“Hey don’t be so sassy.” Karkat snaps. “I thought you didn’t want to join this “Game”.”

“Well I could help you out and besides it looks like you are going to need it.”

“Oh yeah? What the fuck can you do?”

She stutters. “Um,well-”

“See? You don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

“Hey I can-”

You try to cut off their little argument. “Uh guys? Can we get back to this “Game”?”

Both pause and stop glaring at each other. Then they nod.

You sigh. “Good. Now I’ll ask again, where do we start?”

Fate speaks up. “Well how about why you two decided to agree to play again?”

“What?”

She crosses her arms. “Before you two start some tactical planning I would at least like to know if your intentions are good.”

You think for a second. “We’re playing because we both want to get-”

She cuts you off. “To get your friends back? And then what, play again?”

“Yeah well some of us care about our friends.” Karkat shoots back.

“Oh really? That is your argument?” She laughs. “Well that is a shitty excuse.”

Both you and Karkat take offense to that. “Hey you have no right to-”

“No right to what? State my opinion? Well let me give you some of my opinions clueless people. If what Doc Scratch says is true then in exactly 413 days, starting now, the world will end, or to be more reasonable the Earth will be destroyed. So basically in that short amount of time you have to try and find everyone you know and convince them to play.”

Karkat sighs sarcastically. “Yeah thanks for repeating the same guidelines that Doc Scratch guy already told us.”

“Shut up Karkat. So let me clarify that for you. Remember that these people have no memories of this game whatsoever. Are you really just going to shove up all those memories in their minds thinking they will so easily join you? And even if you get them to play, what gives you the right to just save them, just your friends? Out of the seven billion people living on this rock, you would just choose them? That is considered selfishness you know, only think about yourself?”

You glare at her. “Hey we are the only ones who can do this. Besides we are the ones with powers, we are-”

“What, gods? Please, you are going to use that excuse? Realize how much is at stake here. You gods have to deal with this crappy bullshit you call a game. Even if you did get everyone in who says that they won’t die again?”

Karkat stands up. “You don’t kn-”

She stands up too and leans in his face. “I don’t know what? Don’t forget I played Sburb or whatever you call it. You can’t tell me that there is at least one person in your little group who was not killed, slaughtered and brought back to life again like a little puppet.”

You take all that inside your mind. You remember multiple versions of you dead, the dead Daves you’ve seen the ones who were you but failed and decided to go back in time.

When you stop thinking you realize that Karkat is yelling at Fate. “Well thank you for that glorious peptalk! Why don’t you talk some more about your fucking opinions? Actually don’t because I don’t give a fuck. What gives you the right to say that to us? We are the ones playing here, not you so calm your ass down. Go on living your stupid life until the world ends, see if we care. Besides why did you even came to talk to us in the first place?”

Fate shrugs. “Just to see if you guys were really something after all, but you’re not which is a shame.”

“Dave can I punch her in the face now?”

You don’t know what to say, you're speechless. That is until you see you phone buzzing.

ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

EB: uh is this dave? i hope it is because then this will be weird.  
EB: well if it is you i would just like to say that-  
EB: i would like to know what the game is.  
EB: so can you reply soon as you get this? you know if you are still here that is?  
EB: yeah so that’s it. bye.

ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

You stare at the phone dumbfounded. Fate sighs and steps out of the booth. “Well I see you guys are busy. So I’m going to leave now.”

Karkat yells at her. “Really? That’s all you’re going to say, yeah thanks for the help.”

She turns at both of you with an amused smile on her face, but it looks more harsh and sad rather than actual amusement. “That wasn’t suppose to help you, I just wanted to give you guys a reality check.” 

She turns away and leaves Starbucks. Karkat huffs and sits back down beside you. “So what the fuck do we do now?”

You are still silent thinking of the irony. Karkat glances at your phone. “Is that fucking Egbert who texted you?!”

You don’t respond. You are still thinking of the conversation you all just had.

Dave= Be the other person 

No I’m sorry you have to be more specific than that.

Dave=be the other guy

There are like, still ten guys beside me and Karkat.

Dave=Be a guy who is not a troll

Still five guys.

Dave= Be John

See that wasn’t so hard-

You’re name is John Egbert and you at home, getting ready for school. It is still morning and you still have time to get the bus. You don’t know why you sent that text to this Dave person, but for some reason you felt like you needed to. You don’t know if it was sheer curiosity or not but you have a nagging feeling in your head that you had to. You step outside of your house walking to the bus stop. The wind blows against you, pushing you forward.Man, today is going to be a windy day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah this OC is very moody, but in her defense she finished the Game alone (which is somehow possible). She had to re-create the universe by herself and as been living on Earth for three years alone. She once tried to encounter her friends but it didn't work out. Her guardian is still dead and she instead chose to travel the world alone. In the beginning of her session she was more cheerful and happy but now it all changed, so she became more harsh and sarcastic. Oh and I'm sorry it's been a month since I last updated.


	9. A Really Horrible Explanation

-413 days until Reset

=Be Dave

Seeing as both you and Karkat just hopped on the plane you guess you will meet John in the afternoon. Karkat decides to get the middle seat and you are actually really grateful for that. He gets to sit beside whatever crazy person sits in the aisle seat. Apparently he is scared of heights, or at least the fact that this is the first time he flew on a plane before. To him it’s probably like a giant metal abomination waiting for him to swallow him up and send him to who knows where. At least, that’s what you think.

You tell him to relax and he says “WHY DON'T YOU FUCKING RELAX?!”

At this moment everyone turns their heads at you, one lady covering her child’s ears. 

“He’s just paranoid, he never been on a plane before so he’s a little bit anxious.” You say.

Then you turn around and tell him to shut up.

“Anxious?” He mutters. “Well I’m sorry but your human customs are a little new to me. ALSO THE FACT THAT I TURNED INTO A FUCKING HUMAN. DO YOU MIND ME BEING A BIT ANTSY? MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE PICKED A DIFFERENT TOUR GUIDE TO SHOW ME HOW TO GET AROUND THIS HUGE FUCKING GLOBE.”

“Will you calm down? Are you trying to get us kicked off this plane?” You whisper-shout. Is whisper shouting even a thing?

You notice him mumble and typing something on a phone that you bought him at airport.

“What are you doing?”

He doesn’t reply but makes agitated noises as he smashes the keys on the phone. You realize he’s on pesterchum. You log on to see who’s he pestering.

carcinoGeneticist began pestering ruinsDeity

CG: OH LOOK AT THIS, I KNOW YOUR CHUMHANDLE  
CG: WELL AS LONG AS I’M HERE I THINK I’LL VOICE MY OWN OPINIONS  
CG: YOU THINK YOU CAN WALK AWAY AND TALK TO ME LIKE THAT?  
CG:I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT WE CAN DO THIS WITHOUT YOU  
CG: SO WHY DON’T YOU TAKE YOUR POMPOUS ASS AND TRAVEL BACK TO WHEREVER YOU CAME FROM  
CG: OH WAIT- YOU ALREADY DID  
CG: BESIDES HOW USEFUL CAN YOUR POWERS BE?  
CG: I BET YOU WON YOUR GAME BY DEFAULT  
CG: SO WHILE YOU SPEND YOUR TIME MOPING AND BEING A BITCH ME AND STRIDER ARE GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD AND FIND EVERYONE  
CG:HOW’S THAT FOR BEING SELFISH?

turntechGodhead logged on

TG: what the hell are you doing  
CG: VOICING MY OPINIONS  
CG: I MEAN EVERYONE CAN DO THAT RIGHT  
CG: GIVE THEIR OPINIONS TO CLUELESS PEOPLE?  
CG: LIKE THIS GIRL HERE WHO IS BEING STUPID TO REASONS UNBEKNOWNST TO ME  
TG: dude you need to stop  
CG: NOT UNTIL I HAVE PROVEN MY POINT  
TG: she hasn’t even responded  
CG: MAYBE BECAUSE SHE IS TOO RUDE TO RESPOND  
CG:FOR ALL WE KNOW SHE COULD BE READING THIS CONVERSATION  
CG: SHE BETTER BE READING IT  
TG: we aren’t even suppose to be on our phones right now the plane is about to take off  
CG: LIKE I CARE  
TG: besides, how is you arguing with her going to help?  
TG: she said she doesn’t want to join or play then fine  
TG: we can’t force her to play if she doesn’t want to

You take a minute to look up from your phone. Karkat still has his eyes on his phone, waiting for a response from a girl that probably will never reply. It’s kind of stupid that you’re both sitting beside each other and are having a conversation on your phones. You feel like you should take the phone out of his hand and be done with this shitty conversation. That is until you notice white words appear on the screen.

Well david isn’t that nice?  
That won’t help you though, i said you needed all the help you can get and she is your best chance right now.  
You say she doesn’t have to play but then what about the rest of you?  
If you agreed that no one has to play if they don’t want to then i don’t think many people will play.  
Now where’s the fun in that?

It’s the Scratch guy again. 

TG: maybe you should mind your own business and let us do what we want.  
Why?  
I am the one who started this game in the first place  
I want to make sure that everything is going smoothly. We can’t the game end so quickly.  
That vantas fellow is right, fate needs to read this.  
CG: I AM?  
Well yes, do you think all your friends are going to join by just listening to your words? No, they’ll think you're crazy.  
Fate on the other hand, has powers able to help you out in this part of the game.  
CG: OH YEAH? LIKE WHAT?  
I better not say, she has to tell you herself. But she has to join or else there is no point in trying.  
CG: I”LL HAVE YOU KNOW WE CAN DO THIS WITHOUT HER  
Really? Well i would love to see how that will play out  
Don’t say i didn’t tell you though  
CG:WHO DOES THAT GUY THINK HE IS? WE CAN DO THIS.  
TG: can we though? What if she is very important to the game?  
CG: YOU BETTER NOT BE SIDING WITH THAT WHITE TEXT GUY  
TG: trust me, i’m not. it’s just that... maybe there is a reason why she remembers. Maybe really do need her help  
CG: WELL WHY DON'T I GIVE YOU SOME VERY IMPORTANT, PRACTICAL INFORMATION: NO WE DON’T.

carcinoGeneticist ceased pestering ruinsDeity

turntechGodhead logged off

Karkat angrily puts his phone away and closes his eyes. He’s not willing to talk to you right now and decides to sleep instead. You find yourself looking outside the window thinking about everything. Maybe Fate had a reason to react so harshly and suddenly at the plan. She finished the game and you don’t actually know what happened in her session. Something must have happened to her to make her so moody. You continue to stare and frown. You’re not looking forward to the rest of the silent ride to Washington.

Dave= Be the girl in the far back seat of the airplane

You can’t believe you are doing this. You’re name is Fate Memori and you are in the same flight to Washington as Dave and Karkat. You’re meeting in California was cancelled and now the museum curators want you to come back to Washington. With that being said you reluctantly go on the plane, just to see Dave and Karkat rush inside a few minutes after. You freaked out and ducked your head, making your way all the way to the back so they won’t notice you.

You also notice that they have been contacting you through pesterchum, in which you decided that you weren’t going to respond. Karkat is right though, you are reading the conversation and yeah you are being rude. Perhaps you were being over dramatic. Maybe you should pl- You gotta be fucking kidding me.

Aw look, the little girl is here on the same plane as david and vantas.  
RD: what are you doing? Why are you talking to me?  
Because i can, why are you on the same plane as those two?  
RD: you should know, you see everything don’t you?  
Yeah, i guess. I guess i just arranged things to get my way.  
They can’t convince people without your help  
RD: I’m pretty sure they have a shot  
You and me both know that’s a lie. You have the power to heal minds. You forgot to tell them that, didn’t you?  
RD: So? I don’t know what their god tiers are  
Well no you don’t but you will find out that they are useful.  
RD: that doesn’t mean i’m going to help them.  
That sounds awfully selfish.  
RD: Excuse me?  
This game is suppose to include everyone, and that means you. The world is going to end and here you are being totally oblivious to it.  
RD: I have already made my decision.  
Oh you’ll change your mind, you will.

You turn off your phone and realize that you're shaking. You mumble a swear. You always hate this. Being in a game where you are forced to play. A game where you feel like you’re forced to lose. Like the game you played when you were thirteen years old. It seemed fun and entertaining at first, until you realized the little kinks, the glitches. Everyone’s attitude change, like a virus it infected them and not you. They would laugh loudly and shriek in amusement. They sang songs in your head with such a ghostly refrain, they spoke of death as if it was their anthem. Soon after came corruption and like a virus they slowly started breaking down. They broke away piece by piece until- One by one they fell and died. Not naturally, they were slaughtered. By who? Well it seemed obvious. You were the one who seemed the most calm-minded but that’s a lie.

When you “won” you had to create the universe again. Alone and by yourself, for years, ages. You kept everything the same. You didn’t bother to change everything. When you played with your friends you all had so many ideas. Promises to make the world better, not like the one you left to play the game. That all was wasted when you made no changes, because you didn’t want to create everything by yourself. 

Even when you finished creating the universe, after so many years you waited. You dared not to open the door. You waited for yourself to disappear and fade away like a goddess who would be long forgotten. That is- until you met a boy three years older than you. He came like a strong gust of wind on your doorstep. He appeared on your planet in bright blue clothing and held a red cloth with teal writing. At first he complained that he was sent to the wrong destination and you only found yourself confused. In fact you kinda stabbed him with your rapier. When he arose from the dead again, it’s only then you realized he was a god.

He introduced himself as “John Egbert” and you said your name. You both did talk to each other and as it turns out you two had a lot in common.You talked about your friends without ever saying their names. Your experiences and what happened. As it turns out he played Sburb too, just the beta type. When you asked him what’s the difference he shrugged. You showed him around all four planets, the ones created for your friends. He was surprised and yet intrigued. Soon enough he left and after a while you gained the confidence to opened the door to your universe. 

You remember Dave and Karkat mentioning that name. You wonder if there is a connection to them. You shake the thought away.

Since then you have been studying and went to school and traveled the world. You have enough knowledge to be able to visit other museums and archaeological sights. For learning purposes you have to go to meetings and such, putting your input on things. You have spent three years on this, and have been going with the flow. The only reason you're hesitating now if because you don’t want to see your friends again, or replay the events of such a game. 

You sigh and stare at the window. You know the fact that you have to play, no matter what happens. For now you will patiently wait and hope this is all a lie. Otherwise, like a game of chess, it’s soon going to be your move.

Fate= Be Dave

The plane landed fine. As you ascended through the sky Karkat thought you were both going to die and started preaching his ass off about this being a load of bullshit. He made all the kids around him cry. You’re just glad it’s over. You both step out of the plane and grab your stuff, trying to look away from the shameful watch of the mothers, who Karkat made cry.

“Thank god that’s over, I hope we never have to do that again.” He yells.

You find yourself laughing. “Karkat we probably have to go on a plane again later.”

“Well fuck. Anything else I need to know?”

You nod and drag him outside to where taxis are lined up, waiting for people.

“What the hell is that?” Karkat asks.

You raise an eyebrow and gesture to it.

“OH NO. DAVE YOU ARE NOT GETTING ME IN THERE. YOU CAN’T JUST FUCKING PUT ME IN ONE FLYING METAL ABOMINATION JUST TO SHOVE ME INTO A SMALLER METAL ABOMINATION!”

You sigh and think about your options. “Lucky for you this one doesn’t fly.” You grab him by the grey sweater he’s wearing and drag him to the nearest taxi.

“Dave what are you doing? Dave I have my rights! Dave fucking strider oh so help if you dare-”

“Ugh complain about in the car.” You open the door and shove him in and quickly sit inside before he could get out again.

The taxi driver looks at both of you in a bizarre way. You try to act calm. “Relax, my friend’s just a drunk. Too much alcohol on the plane.”

“Aren’t you too young to drink?”

“Well it is a free country. Just kidding he’s on a sugar high. Now can you take us to this destination?”

The man nods and immediately shuts the glass window between the back of the car and the front. Hey you probably would have done the same thing if you were stuck with a crazy, loud mouth boy who swears too much.

You turn to Karkat who mumbles in his seat.

“You have to put on your seat belt.” You say, buckling yourself in.

“What the hell is a seat be-”

“Nevermind. I’ll do it for you.” You go onto his side and help him with his seatbelt on. “Stop moving around!”

“What are you doing? Why are you attaching me to this thing??”

“For ‘safety’ precautions. You know, just in case the driver stops and you almost fly out the window.”

Karkat reluctantly agrees. “So we’re going to John’s uh-”

“House. It’s called a house Karkat.”

“Thanks. Do you mind also getting a fucking dictionary because I clearly don’t understand your ‘human’ terms.”

“Not that, ironically, you're human now too.”

“Shut up. This is the second time you're meeting him right?” Karkat asks.

“Yeah so?”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Can’t I just wing it?”

“Sure Dave that is a marvelous, fucking idea.”

“Look he think’s I work at a company for a game called Sburb. We can tell him all about it and maybe it will jog his memory. There problem solved.”

Once again you find yourself at John’s doorstep, hesitating to knock on the door. At least Karkat is here with you, you know if he was being helpful instead of swearing.

“Dave just knock on the fucking door.”

“Why don’t you calm your shit.”

“My shit is calm, it’s just that you're taking too long.”

“Maybe is you stopped yelling at me I would have knocked already.”

“Oh no don’t blame me for your incompetent knocking skills.”

As you argue the door opens right a way and you both turn to see the familiar derp face.

“Uh hi Da- uh Mr. Strider.”

“Did you just call Dave Mr. Strider? Dave did you marry someone?”

You elbow Karkat in the stomach. “No.”

You turn to John. “You can call me Dave. Mr.Strider makes me feel too old and reminds me too much of my bro.”

“You have a bro?” John asks, curiously.

“Uh yeah.”

“But he’s dead.” Karkat whispers in your ear.

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up?” You whisper back.

“Uh you guys can come in if you want to. My dad is out and I don’t have school today.”

“Thanks.”

John gesture both of you in and surprisingly this is the first time you have been in his house. There is surprisingly a lot of clown pictures. You and Karkat make yourself comfortable on his couch.

“Are you guys hungry? My dad has a lot of cake so if you can have some. I don’t like cake much anyway.”

You nod and so does Karkat. Soon enough John comes back with two slices of cake for you and Karkat. You both thank him.

“So are we going to start talking about it?” John asks as you try to eat your cake.

“About what?” You ask dumbfounded.

“The game you mentioned before. I think you called it Sburb?”

“Yeah, that.”

“So what’s with the sudden interest? Names Karkat by the way, I work with Dave. God this is delicious, first time trying it but I’m not dead so that’s saying something.”

“Uh, thanks? Oh and I don’t know it seems interesting, like something I would get into.”

“Well that figures.” Karkat mutters.

“Figures what?”

“The online survey! The reason why you would like this game!” You blurt out, secretly glaring at Karkat.

“I guess, I mean does seem oddly familiar to me. Maybe I saw an ad of it online.”

An awkward silence starts between the three of you, with only the noises Karkat makes while eating his cake in the room.

“So I’m sorry.” John says.

“About what?” You ask raising your eyebrow.

“About how I reacted before, yesterday I mean. I suddenly got mad at you for no reason.”

“Oh you don’t have to-”

“But I do, I was acting like a douche. That’s why I wanted you to come today, because I wanted to apologize. I also created a pesterchum so I could tell you. I thought ghostlyTrickster would be cool but then I decided to go with ectoBiologist. The point is, I would like to start again. So tell me Dave Strider, what is rad, sick game you wanted to tell me about?”

He gives you a goofy grin and for a second you don’t know what to say.

"You can’t tell me that there is at least one person in your little group who was not killed, slaughtered and brought back to life again like a little puppet."

Fuck, why did her words come into your head? Fate’s right though, you have all died on multiple occasions. Like how Jade got killed by fucking Prospit. How John was tricked by Terezi to meet his denizen way too early. How Rose went crazy grimdark and tried to kill Bec Noir. How you died multiple times to try and save the game. 

You look around John’s house to see a lot of things. Pictures of his dad and him, the guy who wasn’t dead. His house is back to normal and the three years you spent in the game never existed, instead he has been going to school and living with his dad. His goofy grin, his silly pranks, do you have the right to take him away from his everyday life?

“Dave? Are you alright? You look pale.” John asks worried.

“Yeah, no I’m fine. Actually we have to go now.”

“What?!” Both John and Karkat say in unision.

“Yeah we have really important stuff to do and in fact we weren’t suppose to be here in the first place and our boss will be mad if we don’t get back right away so yeah Karkat let’s go.”

You drag Karkat away. “Hey, what are you-”

“Change of plans, we aren’t doing this.”

“What do you mean? Dave don’t tell me you are ditching this now, just because you freaked out. We get it, John is a total nerd but you don’t have to be a softie.”

“It’s not that-”

“You know what? I’m going to explain to John by myself. Relax I’ll be subtle.”

Karkat walks back into the living room. A second later and there is yelling.

“Okay John I’m going to be really serious here, so bare with me.The truth is you already played a game called Sburb.”

“I did? Was it good?”

“Ha, no it wasn’t!”

“So how was it?” John questions.

“You don’t want to know” You say bursting in.

“WELL YOU AND YOUR FOUR FRIENDS DECIDED TO PLAY A GAME CALLED SBURB ON YOUR THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY. FOR SOME REASON THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA BUT AS YOU CAN SEE IT WASN’T. YOU PLAY AND DESTROY THE WORLD. NOW YOU HAVE TO FIX IT UP AGAIN. ALSO IT WAS YOUR FAULT THAT OUR SESSION WAS WRECKED BY A HYBRID DOG THAT BELONGED TO ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS. SO TO SOLVE THIS OUT WE DECIDED TO TROLL YOU. ALSO, HEY WE ARE YOUR GODS BOW DOWN TO MY SUPERIOR BEING. AND WE ARE ALIENS CALLED TROLLS. ANYWAY YOU GET INTO YOUR SESSION AND HORRIBLE STUFF GOES DOWN. OH NO YOUR DAD DIES AND YOU HAVE A HUGE FROWNY FACE ON. OH NO SOMEONE DIES, WHO HASN’T. THEN A LOT OF SHITTY SHENANIGANS ENSUE LIKE A FUCKING ORANGE, BIRD VERSION OF DAVE AND A GREEN DOGGY- VERSION OF JADE. YOU DIE, BECOME A GOD, SPEND THREE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE ON A BOAT TO A NEW SESSION FILLED WITH TEENAGE-VERSIONS OF YOUR GUARDIANS, EXCEPT FOR YOUR DAD. THEN THERE ARE MAGICAL THINGS CALLED DREAM BUBBLES THAT FEFERI MADE FOR DEAD PEOPLE. ONE OF THOSE DEAD PEOPLE, ARANEA MADE SHIT GO DOWN AND THE CONDESCE COMES ALONG AND BOOM GAME OVER. SO WITH WHATEVER THE HELL TEREZI DID YOU USED YOUR RETCON POWERS TO CREATE A NEW TIMELINE WHERE ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU DIED ON A PLANET. YOU COME BACK WITH A GIRL WITH VOIDY POWERS AND VRISKA MAKES A PLAN TO KILL ALL THE BAD GUYS, WHO NAMES I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT RIGHT NOW. POINT IS, I DON’T KNOW HOW THAT FIGHT WENT DOWN BUT SOMEHOW WE ALL ENDED UP BACK HERE ON EARTH WHERE MY MY NOOK MIRACULOUS TURNED INTO WHATEVER YOU CALL HUMAN GENITALIA BECAUSE DAVE DIDN’T WANT TO GIVE ME A HUMAN DICTIONARY. BASICALLY HE IS THE WORST TOUR GUIDE TO EARTH EVER. POINT IS, NOW SOME ASS HAT NAME SCRATCH WANTS US TO PLAY AGAIN SO NOW WE HAVE TO FIND EVERY PERSON AGAIN. I KNOW IT MAY SOUND CONFUSING BUT I’LL FILL YOU IN THE UH- TAXI, METAL ABOMINATION. SO JOHN EGBERT DO YOU WANT TO PLAY A SHITTY GAME CALLED SBURB?”

“What the heck are you talking about?!”

“UGH DO I REALLY HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT AGAIN FOR YOUR PUBESCENT HUMANOID MIND TO UNDERSTAND IT?”

“No don’t! You’re saying I destroyed the world?! My dad is dead?! That all happened?!”

“NOW YOU GET. SEE DAVE THAT WASN’T HAR-”

“You guys are crazy! Paranoid! Did you really think I would believe you?! Get out of my house!”

“WHAT, NO THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU THANKS US FOR OUR SUPERIOR INTELLECT ON THE SITUATION AND HUMBLY JOIN US ON OUR QUEST TO SAVE THE WORLD.”

“I’m calling the cops!” John runs into the kitchen with the phone.

“JOHN EGBERT GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE. WE AREN’T DONE WITH THIS DISCUSSION.”

“Well this is just getting worse and worse.” You mutter.

You and Karkat go into the kitchen after John. What you see is a scared, terrified Egbert with a knife in his hands.

“Okay look, I know this may sound farfetched and maybe a little bit crazy. What am I kidding this is batshit crazy. But there is a perfectly reasonable explanation.” You want to try calm John down, without getting anyone hurt.

“Like the one your psycho friend gave? Oh wait- I mean TROLL friend. Cause you guys are trolls.”  
John’s voice trembles.

“Actually no, he’s the troll but-”

“I’M STILL HERE, STOP TALKING SHIT ABOUT ME.”

“You guys are suppose to be gone, I called the cops! I have a knife and expired cake! That’s right I gave you expired cake!”

“Look we don’t want to start a fuss-”

“GIVE ME THE FUCKING KNIFE JOHN.”

“What? No get off of me!”

So now Karkat and John are fighting over a knife in John’s kitchen.

“Guys this is stupid, someone is seriously get hurt.”

“Tell him to get off me!”

“JUST GIVE ME THE KNIFE.”

“No, I said get off!”

You hear a strange noise and see Karkat stop holding onto John. He lets go of John and you see a knife in the middle of Karkat’s chest. He immediately collapsed on the floor, with blood seeping from the wound.

“Oh my god.” John mutters and collapses on the ground.

“John,what did you do?”

He gives you a terrified look. “i-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”

Outside you can hear sirens. It’s the police, they’re coming. Karkat is dead and John is scarred for life. So Dave, what will you do now?

You grit your teeth and clench your fist. Somewhere behind you a clock is ticking. You close your eyes, allowing yourself to go back in time, regretting this ever happen.

 

-413 days until Reset

I told you so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, hi again. I apologize for the long, unintended break. Probably because I'm having a writer's block on this one but the chapter's done! :D you might say that things escalated quickly, in which it did. Karkat sucks at explaining things under pressure. So now I'll try to update every two weeks at least, actually the time I may post these chapters will be unpredictable. Anyway thanks for reading and once again I apologize for over five months of not writing.


	10. John:Remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say, a lot of coding and it's pretty long *shrugs* Also, sorry for the delay.

Tempus Mutatur used!  
Amount of time taken away: five hours!  
Penalty: minus 1 day  
412 days until Reset

Dave= Open your eyes

You open your eyes to find yourself back at Starbucks in the airport with Fate and Karkat. You realize they are arguing.

“Well that isn’t really going to help you in this situation, now is it?”

You’re back.

“Hey don’t be so sassy.” Karkat snaps. “I thought you didn’t want to join this “Game”.”

Karkat isn’t dead.

“Well I could help you out and besides it looks like you are going to need it.”

You haven’t traumatized John.

“Oh yeah? What the fuck can you do?”

And you don’t know what to do.

She stutters. “Um,well-”

And you _**still** _ don’t know what to do.

“See? You don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

You just don’t how this game works.

“Hey I can-”

Underneath the booth you clench your fists. “Can you guys stop with your dumbass argument?”

They both turned shocked at you. 

“Well someone didn’t sleep well on the plane.” Fate says.

“Yeah, what’s gotten you so grumpy?” Karkat asks.

“Me, what’s wrong with both of you?!” For some reason you feel extremely angry. Oh wait nevermind, there is a reason. For the second time today you fucked up on talking to John. You hesitated and made Karkat explain. Which got him stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife and John to stare there traumatized.

“What do you mean? I haven’t done anything stupid yet!” Karkat says.

“And I thought Karkat was the one with the grumpy mood.” Fate murmurs. 

And it’s all her fault.

“No I’m only like this because of you.” You sneer.

“Me? What did I-”

“What did you do? Well that’s funny. For some reason, in a minute you start to interrogate me and Karkat about how we're off to find our friends. You rant along saying how much bullshit it is and how pointless it will be. You continue being a bitch when clearly you don’t have to be!”

“I never mentioned that at all!” Fate argues back. “I mean I was thinking about it but how did you - Ugh!”

She stops mid-sentence and clutches her head. “Stupid headache, why is my head throbbing?”

“Maybe because you feel guilty.” You mutter.

“No, not that. We had this conversation before didn’t we?” She asks, still holding her head in pain. “Except it’s different. The words. I’m suppose to leave and get mad. It’s like the deja vu when I met you on the plane. Wait-” She looks straight at you letting her hands drop. Her eyes grow wide with realization. “You’re a Time player, aren’t you?”

“So what of it?” You growl.

“It makes sense now.” She grits her teeth. “Damn Scratch. That’s what he meant by you demonstrating your powers.”

“I don’t know what the hell you two are talking about! And uh hey, Dave your phone is buzzing.”

“What?” Before you react Karkat snatches your phone. Your really need to put a password on that.

ectoBiologist [EB] began pesteringturntechGodhead (TG)

EB: uh is this dave? i hope it is because then this will be weird.  
EB: well if it is you i would just like to say that-  
EB: i would like to know what the game is.  
EB: so can you reply soon as you get this? you know if you are still here that is?  
EB: yeah so that’s it. Bye.

ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]

“Is that fucking Egbert who texted you? How did you find him?”

“Wait-Egbert? Like JOHN EGBERT?!” Fate asks. “Guy who wears blue and has a goofy grin with an overbite?”

“Yeah, wait how do you know him?”

You sigh. “I found his address and saw him. Apparently I have to go back.”

“Then what are we waiting here for? Let’s go.” Karkat says with a little anxiousness in his voice.

“And fuck up again? No way.” You scoff.

“Well we have to try.” Karkat answers.

You sigh and get a pen from your pocket (which is somewhat convenient) and write the address on a napkin. You shove it into Karkat’s face while simultaneously taking your phone back from him. “Fine then here’s the address. Go meet John and see if you can convince him.”

“You’re not coming?!” Karkat asks.

You laugh. “I already tried twice, you can have a crack at it. But if you need help,” You point to Fate with accusing eyes. “Ask her, she probably is useful as Scratch said.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I’m in New York, which I’ve never been. Might as well roam around a bit.” You leave before they have anything else to say. As far as you’re concerned you still have 413 days left. You need to settle how this is all going to work.

Dave= Be Karkat

“What?! DAVE GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE WE AREN’T DONE TALKING.”

“Karkat, quiet down.” Fate whispers.

“Why not? Dave suddenly got really edgy and left and for some reason it’s your fault.” You accuse.

“No- okay maybe. Well alternate me’s fault. Come on let’s go.” She grabs your arm and drags you out of Starbucks.

“What are you doing?”

“Dave gave you the address right ? Then that’s all we need then. We are going to buy tickets for the next plane to Washington. Since I met Dave back when he was returning from there I can only assume that’s where John Egbert lives.”

“Like I’m going to follow you shorty.” You scowl.

“We’re the same height!”

“I’m taller!” you state.

“Okay fine, you're taller. Apparently someone has a height issue.” she mutters under her breath.

“Point is, I’m your new tour guide to Earth because Dave decided to quit on day one. Now let’s go.” She walks ahead.

“Fine. Only so I can see his derp face again.” And with that you run to catch up to her so you can both head to Washington.

Karkat=get the middle seat

Somehow you get on the middle seat of a “plane” as Fate takes the window seat. No way in hell are you going to watch as you get higher in the sky when you may plummet to your doom. Also these seats are uncomfortable as heck.

“These seats are fucking annoying!” You shout.

Fate shushes you and apologizes to the flight attendant. “You only have to deal with it for an hour or so. It’s not going to kill you. We’re lifting off so try to calm down.”

Yeah, calm. “Yeah like I can stay calm like this. Really, Dave gets to stay on the ground as my ass ascends higher and higher. I might as well be taking this to heaven, not that I deserve to be there.”

You glance at her as she pulls out her phone. “Hey can I borrow that?”

“What? No I’m suppose to turn it of- Hey!”

You snatch her phone from her and immediately go on pesterchum. Unfortunately it automatically logs into her account. She can deal with it.

ruinsDeity (RD) began pestering turntechGodhead (TG) 

RD: HEY FUCKASS  
RD: WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR DEAL  
RD: YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME HERE WITH THIS GIRL  
RD: YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO HELP ME OUT  
RD: HOW COME YOU GET TO PRANCE AROUND ON YOUR GRUMPY BEHIND WHILE I HAVE TO SEE JOHN

turntechGodhead (TG) logged on

TG: what the heck  
TG: is that you karkat?  
TG: why are you on fate’s account.  
TG: it’s like you change chumhandles but you're still using your quirk  
TG: like you're copying her but instead of looking cool with silver you have like a light, dull grey  
RD: SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU STILL HAVEN’T ANSWERED MY QUESTION  
TG: that?  
TG: ask her, she probably has all the answers  
RD: OKAY SO YOU GET TO BE SARCASTIC AND SAVAGE AND I DON`T  
RD: THAT MAKES SENSE  
TG: look, it’s complicated  
RD:OH REALLY? I HAVEN’T NOTICED  
TG: okay, yeah be sarcastic  
TG: it's just that  
TG: right now there are too many things to explain and right now i don’t want think about any of it  
TG: i didn’t decide to play a game to end the world and waste three years of my life just to play again  
TG: i’ve relived through too many game overs to play again  
RD: DAVE, I SEE WHERE YOU ARE GETTING AT BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU GIVE UP.  
TG: i’m not, i’m just taking a break. Besides you guys will have a better shot at winning john over than me. third times the charm, right?  
TG: just tell me how you guys do, okay

turntechGodhead (TG) logged out of chat

RD: DAVE  
RD: DAVE, COME BACK HERE, I’M NOT DONE SPEAKING TO YOU.  
RD: SHIT

ruinsDeity (RD) ceased pestering turntechGodhead (TG)

Out of the corner of your eye you notice Fate looking at you.

“Are you done using my phone?” She asks.

You mutter a swear and reluctantly give it back to her. You place it in her hand and she glances at the conversation on her phone. Then with a sigh, she places her phone in her pocket and turns her gaze back to you.

“I suppose it’s about time I told you about myself and the game isn’t it?” She asks.

You cross your arms and glare. “Damn right it is.”

She sighs and stares at you. ‘Well, to be very simple it is very complicated and doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Yeah, so was our session. Continue on.”

“To be honest it’s not a topic I'm fond of speaking of.”

“Why, it can't be that bad.”

You receive a glare from her. “Oh really? Then your session must have been a piece of cake.”

“no. It was hard as fuck... Okay maybe you're right. But that doesn't mean you get to be a bitch like Dave said. What did you even say last time or whatever the hell ha  
ppened? Like what,did Dave go back in time or something?”

“I think it's clear that he did. Whatever happened though, is something Dave has yet to discuss with us.”

“I thought you remembered that stuff.”

“Only my memories of the me of that timeline. I'm still a little fuzzy on what happened but it appears I might of… said some things.”

You raise your eyebrow. “Oh yeah, what sort of things?”

“Rude things. Alternate ‘me’ may have called you stupid for trying to find your friends. And that it was selfish to only save only your friends. And that claiming you’re ‘gods’ isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Wow, alternate you sounds like an ass.”

“No, I probably would of still said it if Dave didn’t cut us off. So I’m probably an ass in general.”

“Well that’s reassuring. Why would you even say that in the first place?”

“Because I think that me found it upsetting.” 

“What? How can you be upset at us if all we wanted to do was make a plan to find our friends?” you ask.

She takes a second to find the right words to describe it. “Because it’s naive.” she answers. “ It's naive to think that you can find your friends again. It’s naive to think you can win Scratch’s game when it’s obvious he’s only doing this to mock and ridicule us.”

“Like you and your friends?” you say immediately then quickly clamping your hand over your mouth. “Shit, I mean-”

“No you're right.” She responds. “When I was thirteen I thought it was just a game. I thought it was going to fun. When the delivery man sent it to me I gave it to all my friends so we can play together. I don’t even remember buying the game because I didn’t know it exist. The guy gave it to me for free and I accepted it. I didn’t think that by accepting it from him I’d end up like this.”

You don’t answer right away and she takes it as a cue to continue on with the story. “When I won, I made Earth the same. I didn’t bother to change anything. By then I already gave up on changing anything. I could have realized that I could stop cancer or wars or make sure the Earth wasn’t so frail but I didn’t care anymore. Even when I created the universe I was afraid of opening that door. It wasn’t until a boy, like strong gust of wind, came to my door step. It was only then I was able to decide to go back to earth.”

“I’m guessing that that was John?” You question.

“Yes, actually. Kinda stabbed him with a rapier but he seemed alright. He’s really nice and I didn’t know there were other sessions. For once I didn’t feel so alone. He had to go fix his session and help his friends so we had to part ways. But he convinced me to go back to Earth. Three years later I had partially forgot how angry I was at the whole thing. But that gave me no right to judge both you and Dave. I’m sorry.”

You blink, taking in all that she said. Then you start to laugh. “Of course Egbert would say that. Anyway I forgive you.”

“Huh?”

“Did you not hear me? I said I forgive you. Sure all that shit was unnecessary but it’s fine. I have people worse in my session. Granted that they are kind of murders but then again so is most of Alternia. As a leader I have to do what i need to do. But before that I’m a friend and friends help friends out. We also just met for the second time today but at least we’re acquaintances who don’t hate each other that much.”

For the first time today you see her give a genuine smile. “Thanks. I appreciate it, sure your mouth needs a filter in it but I think that you probably are a great leader. And i guess we can be friends.”

After that both of you just silently agree with each other and decide to no longer speak instead. Fate decides to look out the window and stare at the vast sky while you lay back. Surprisingly you are now comfortable in the seat you are sitting in and it’s no longer annoying. You close your eyes and rest a little better than you did yesterday.

Karkat= knock on door

“So I just knock?” you ask.

“Yeah or just ring the doorbell.” Fate says.

“And they just let you in?!”

“No but if they are nice enough they will listen to what you need to say. I guess the customs here are a bit nicer than on Alternia.”

“No kidding. Okay, here it goes.”

You knock on the door and wait for the person inside to open it.

“Just a minute!” you hear someone yell. It is then proceeded by a noise of someone tripping down the stairs.

The swings open and there appears a very flustered John who seemed to actually trip himself down the stairs.

You see Fate’s expression turn to shock. “It really is you…” She whispers in disbelief.

“Um excuse me?” He asks jokingly.

Holy shit it really is him. You probably would have made the same expression as Fate but right now you have to so what you came here to do. 

“Uh hi we came in place of Dave Strider?” okay that should not have came out as a question.

“Oh. You're here to discuss the game your company wanted to display?”

You're confused. “Wha-”

Fate cuts you off. “Why of course. My name is Fate Memori and the person beside me is Karkat Vantas. We both come from the company Dave is interning in.” 

She extends her hand and he shakes it. You follow her lead and do the same.

“Now if you may, can you let us in? We have a lot to discuss.”

“Oh.. right.” Hesitantly he lets the both of you in.

Fate sits down on the couch and you join her, John taking the seat opposite of you.

“Dave wanted to talk to you about Sburb, correct?” Fate asks, making herself comfortable.

“Yeah he did. Where is he by the way? I asked him to come back.”

“He has other business to take care of. Speaking of which he’s in New York meeting with another person who could perhaps be interested in the Game.”

You glance at her. She seems calm and her tone doesn’t faze. She’s a good liar, even though a part of what she said is partially true.

“Oh.” You see John smile with slight disappointment. “Well that’s fine. Do you want anything to eat or drink?”

“I don’t think that’s nece-”

Fate’s answer is interrupted by your stomach growling. She shoots a look at you.

“Something to eat actually. If you can.” You mutter.

He laughs at this. You both turn to see him smiling and laughing, even if it’s a little awkward. You feel your cheeks warm in embarrassment.

“Sure.” He gets up and makes his way to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”

You watch as he leaves from your sight.

“We already ate Karkat.” Fate sighs.

“The food on the plane wasn’t going to cut it.” You huffed. “I’m a growing man.”

“More like boy.” She murmurs.

“Anyway, you’re a good liar.” You say.

“I don’t know whether I should take that as a compliment or not.”

“Take it as a compliment, since we’re in this situation.”

“It isn’t that hard though. Dave already gave us something to work with. Now he thinks were just some people from a company to explain a game. And besides, a little white lie can’t hurt him.”

“Especially if it’s about destroying the world.” You spit.

She flinches. She turns away. “The faster we explain this the faster we get this over with and we don’t have to talk about this anymore.”

On cue John comes back from the kitchen this time with two plates of cake in his hands.

“I have cake.” He says, resting it on the coffee table in front of you.

You mumble a thank you and eat.

Fate also raises her plate to her lap and takes a small bite. Placing the small bit of cake in her mouth she raises an eyebrow.

“Well that’s unconventional, to have cake on hand that is.”

“My dad likes to bake a lot. We have to get rid of this cake somehow.”

As you shove the cake in your mouth you no longer pay attention to their conversation. You also don’t see the suspicious look Fate gives as John looks away in guilt.

“Shouldn’t we go back to talking about your game?” He asks, eager to change the subject.

She puts her plate down on the table. “Of course, seeing as my associate is promptly stuffing his face I shall explain.”

“ Our company created this Game based on a survey that was taken by teenagers like us on certain interests. Based on our studies we have found people who could perhaps test the beta version of this game. Although it’s not complete we have been sent to reccomend it to you.”

“Well do you recommend it?” He asks.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, yes definitely.” She says with slight hesitation.

“You sure? You don’t sound believable.”

She tenses. “Uh…”

“You’re not doing a very good job.” He’s not amused.

“I-”

“Dave could have done a better job than you.”

She freezes, no way of replying back.

Okay so things might get a little bit more awkward if you don’t do something.

“Can I have more cake?!” You scream.

Both jump and then stare at you surprised.

You feel your face warm. “I mean can I have more cake please. It’s really good cake.”

“Huh, my dad would be happy if you said that. Okay I’ll be right back.”

He leaves once again and you quickly grab fate. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t remember John being so rude.” She mutters.

“Yeah, well then again he doesn’t exactly remember meeting the both of us.”

“Right. So I guess we have to be more patient.”

“Also do you have a plan?”

“Well about that…”

 

John= Get more cake

You head to the kitchen getting more cake for both Karkat and Fate. You don’t understand why you are doing this anyways. Fate knows that the cake is stale and barely touched hers, well you assume because she gave you that suspicious look. Karkat, well Karkat already shoved his piece into his mouth. As you pull out the cake from the fridge you can’t help but feel disappointed that it wasn’t Dave who came back. You hoped to apologize to him because of your rude attitude. It didn’t help that you got in trouble by the teacher earlier that day because you pulled a prank on him. Who knew he would be allergic to cats and that you accidentally superglued one to his totally not fake hair. And now you are expressing that anger towards Fate which again, is bad.

Behind you you can hear both of them whispering about something, Karkat louder than Fate. So you can’t tell what both of them are talking about.

“Well how the hell do we...to him?!”

“Relax… a plan.”

“Oh yeah how’s… work?”

“well...”

“... to explain?”

“... I have a...”

“That doesn’t explain how...”

“...wing it.”

You take it that this is your cue to come out. You step out of the kitchen carrying two plates of stale cake interrupting their conversation. Fate quickly stops and smiles at you while Karkat is still talking mid-sentence.

“Am I interrupting something?” You ask.

Both shake their heads, Karkat snatching another plate from you and Fate takes hers and places it next to the other uneaten slice.

“ We just wanted to talk about the reason we’re here.” Fate says.

“To eat cake?” You ask, noticing how Karkat is devouring his slice.

“No. About the game Dave told you about.”

You notice how bluntly she stated it. You also swear that Karkat stopped eating for a second.

“Oh right, the game. So what’s it about?”

“Well… I suppose since all I talked about was the company’s intentions I never described the game itself.” She averts her eyes from you. “It’s about ending the world.”

“So it’s like a post-apocalyptic game?”

“Sort of. When you play this game the world ends and you and your friends, depending on who you have on your session get sent to different planets. Planets that show the aspect of who you are and create you into a god to recreate the world again. You fight monsters with your friends and go on quests, meet your denizen and kick the final boss’ ass.”

“That sounds fun!”

“It’s not.” You hear Karkat mutter.

“What? How can it **not** be fun?”

Karkat glances at Fate and for a second you can see her expression falter a bit. She continues, but this time she fumbles with the locket around her neck. “Well there are some defaults, glitches in the game. Which makes it not so fun anymore.”

“Oh, well that sucks.”

“It sucks, indeed.” She gives you a half-hearted smile.

“You see, it starts off at your home and then you are sent off to your respective planet. It’s fun to play, for awhile that is…”

Her voice trails and you wave your hand getting her attention.

“Oh sorry. Where was I? Right, the Game. Well I actually played the beta wait no it’s the delta version. I played with my other friends before and we thought it was fun. Then we met with four other friends and we had this huge multiplayer thing going on. The powers you get are cool and it’s really interesting. Oh you can also make weapons from ordinary objects…”

Fate continues on rambling about the game and you notice Karkat glancing at her, still with a slightly sad expression on his face. You notice as the more she talks the more she tugs on the locket so much that you think it might snap. She stops staring at you and insteads gazes around the house. Her gaze changes to different objects. Her words start to move faster. Her eyes turn cloudy and faded, from silver to dull grey. Karkat proceeds to stab his cake a little bit too forcibly as if he’s letting out his pent up anger on cake.

It takes you a second to determine their actions. For people who want to recommend a game they aren’t good at it. If anything they are taking the game too seriously, as if life depended on it. They speak with experience not game experience but real-life experience as if it actually happened.

“You act as if it isn’t a game. That it’s actually real.” You blurt out.

You see a mixture of fear and shock in both their eyes. Fate stops talking and Karkat stops murdering what’s left of his cake.

“Is this really a game?” You ask, the question lingering in the air.

Both are silent for a moment. Fate tugging once again on her locket and Karkat looking down to his now empty plate.

“I mean, seriously. You both look at me weirdly, as if you both know me. Dave was like that too, he seemed disappointed when I talked to him. Like he was expecting me to react.” You continue on.

“I- there is no simple way of explaining this.” Fate says, this time looking directly at you.

“Explaining what? I don’t understand.” Your talk more quickly and you can tell that you sound scared.

Fate gives you a sympathetic look-no, it’s an empathetic look. 

“Now before we continue on, please don’t freak out. I want you to keep an open mind and to relax.” She says.

Her quiet rambling is replaced with an oddly soothing tone of voice, like how your mother used to sound like. Slowly you take a breath and your mind begins to ease.

“The game we have talked about, Sburb, it’s real and exists.”

“When you play it,” Karkat adds. “It literally destroys the world. Scratch that, how about the whole fucking universe. Like a fucking hell load of meteors bombard the planet, causing life to cease existing on the planet along with the rest of the universe. Except for the players, they get sent into the game. Like Fate said before, you, along with your house, land onto your given planet. This is where you start your game, you create things, get powers, beat up obstacles and then in the end rebuild your universe again.”

“What if I were to say many have already played the game? That anyone can play if they have the disc?” Fate questions.

“Then that wouldn’t make any sense, earth would be gone! Who would play it then? Aliens?!”

“Yeah about that,” Karkat interrupts.

“What? Are you an alien?” You ask.

“Since you asked I will kindly tell you that yeah, I’m an alien. I come from this planet called Alternia and it’s ruled by a species of trolls.”

“Trolls?! But you look human!”

“I do now, but I’m normally gray with horns. Anyway, I played with a bunch of my, uh, friends and created your universe.”

“You what?!” You turn to Fate. “Don’t tell me you’re-”

She laughs softly. “A troll? No, rest assured I am a hundred percent human.”

They both stop talking, giving you a moment to let it sink in. Right now you are confused and frustrated. There are questions popping up in your head that you want answered.

“Hey, can I ask a question?”

“You already did, but go for it.” Fate says.

“Did I play this game?”

Fate and Karkat exchange looks. It’s Karkat who gives you the answer. “Yeah, yeah you did.”

“And what happened?” 

“It’s complicated,” Karkat says. “But because of your session, my troll session was interrupted so we decided to help you out. We did, with some complications in the way. In the end we were all ready to beat the game and the Condesce, along with all the Jacks-but then, then I can’t remember the rest.”

“Okay, but then I don’t remember either, not even the fact that we played in the first place.”

“There could be a chance that we never finished our session.” Karkat states.

“But the Earth is here, then who’s session lead to this universe?”

“Mine.” Fate answers. “I succeeded in winning my session and even though it’s bittersweet, I decided to keep the universe as it is.”

“Did you have friends in your session?”

“Yes.”

“And what happened when you all won?”

“When **I** won, I was sent back to Earth. My friends have no recollection of it.”

“So, even if I did believe you, why are you telling me this?”

“That is because-” Fate starts.

“This asshole named Scratch wants all of us to play again. He wants players from all of our three sessions to play one last time.”

“Does that mean the world will end?”

“We have been given a time limit of 413 days. After those days are used up the world will be fucked.”

“Our job, for those of us who remembered it all, is to find everyone else, and convince them to play.”

“So are you asking me to play?”

They both give you a sad face. 

“If there was anyway not to play this game, I would have hoped that we all didn’t have to play. That’s not the case though.” Fate says reluctantly.

“And I should just trust you and play?” You question.

“No, of course not. We want to give you a chance to think and let you remember. In fact I met Mr. Karkat Vantas just this morning. So for myself, I think the stranger beside me has made a great demonstration for me to trust and believe them. Even if he is a potty mouth.”

Karkat’s face turns red. “Hey listen you-”

“Aw you’re being bashful.” She laughs.

“Remember? How are you going to do that?”

“When you go into the game you are given a god tier title, along with powers. I am a Sylph of Mind. That means I could heal minds and whatever resides in them. That includes memories.”

“Hey you never told me that!” Karkat yells.

“Shush Karkat. Anyway i could perhaps restore the memories deep inside your mind, the ones you have forgotten. I never done this before which is why I’m very unsettled about using this method. It may or may not work. That being said I can try to restore your memories, but I don’t want to do it without your say so.”

“I’ll do it.” You flat out announce.

“What?!”

“There are risks.” Fate states.

“I know but I’m willing to at least try. I can’t imagine not knowing about something as important as this.”

“There are things you would be better off knowing.”

“Even so, I want to. I can’t leave friends behind.”

“I am a stranger.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But you have that look in your eye, you’ve been through a lot haven’t you? If you have to play you shouldn’t be all alone. I also don’t mind putting my trust in you two strangers.” You smile at both of them.

“Fate, for gog’s sake just do it!”

“Alright, I have received permission from John.”

She stands up and sits beside you. “Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Just do it, I can’t focus if you keep looking at me.”

“Fine, fine. But I think you’ll do fine, I trust you.” You say before you close your eyes.

“Thank you.”

You feel her place her hands on your head, near your temple. Then you see a teal light glow even with your eyelids closed. Then it comes. Memories rush in your mind, or rather are released from the back of your mind. You start to remember bits and pieces. It’s overwhelming, remembering so much at once. You don’t think you can stand it much longer until you realize the glow fades and Fate releases her hands. That’s when you faint.

Karkat= react to what you just witnessed

As Fate rests her hands on John’s head a symbol appears on both their heads. The mind symbol. It releases a teal light, causing you squint your eyes. A few seconds later, the light fades and Fate releases her hands. John and Fate immediately slumps into the couch.

“John!” You yell.

“Yeah, I’m okay too.” Fate mutters, her head still resting on the couch.

John’s eyes are closed and you don’t see him moving.

“Fuck. Is he dead?” You ask.

“Oh no, it seems that my plan failed.” Fate says sarcastically. “No you idiot, you see his chest? Yeah he’s breathing, so no John isn’t dead.”

“Oh. That’s good. So did it work?”

“I don’t know, we have to wait for the results. Ugh my head is spinning.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, thanks for asking. No, I feel as if a meteor struck my cranium.” Fate clutches her head. 

“That’s great, what do we do now?” You ask.

“Nevermind I might puke. Ugh it’s like having a hangover, except I never had one. This is just what I assume it would feel like.”

“Yeah, yeah. John’s unconscious, you look shitty-”

“That’s not nice.”

“And we ultimately have nothing left to do.”

“Well it’s best we leave now.” Fate says, rising from the couch.

“That’s your plan?! Leaving?!” You yell.

“Be quiet, don’t wake him up.”

“Why not?”

“Well, if it did work and he remembers, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to be bombarded by questions. Give him time, I can imagine any session in Sburb can give people nightmares.”

“I- shit, you’re right.” You say in defeat.

She smiles. “Good, let’s go. The first thing we’ll do is find a hotel to stay in, since I am no way in any shape to get on a plane. I’ll get you room service, since I think you’ll need to eat later. Once I rest we can go back to John. Does that seem fine?”

“Yeah.” You mutter.

“Geez, you’re like a whiny five year-old. Come on let’s go.”

She begins to walk out and you follow her. Before you leave through the door you look back at John, who’s still resting on the couch. 

“He’ll be fine Karkat.” Fate says reassuringly.

You nod and then leave the household.

Dave= What the hell you doing?

You find yourself in New York by yourself not giving a damn. Currently you're in a-

ERROR

Y̷̓̚ô̚͘u̵ͪ̈́ ̽̃ͤ̚hͭ̈͗aͤͪ͌̑v҉éͩ͑ ̵ͫ͋ͤͭ ̴̀̔̽r̈͆͟eͧ͐̂̃̿̎̀͢a͛̆ͯ͑̚c̨̍͒̌̌h̛ͤ̐̑ͤed̈́̏̇͝ ̶̆ͦͭ̔̒͗̚ȧͧ̅ͥ̚̕ ͂ͭ̐̈́ͤ̎c̶ͧ̿ͫla͂̈́ͣ̽͘s̊͊ͪ͏s͌͌̆i̡̐̀̓fͥ͜iͧ̄͒͗ͤe̶ͩ̈͛̒͆ͦ̃d̛ ̏̒ͮ̿ͦͯͯ̕p̌̽ò̢̉͒̌in̓ͦ͂ͬ̊̅tͨ͛ ̨̍̐̄͗iͮ͌̐̾͆̅̂͏nͮͫ̐ͣ͂ ͧ̌͢tͨ̋ͨ̇͂̀hͦ͑ͧȋ͆̌̎͌ͬ͝s̵ͤ͑̇ ̿ͪ͑̀ͣ̿ͬ́ẗ̢͂͗̋̄̋iͮm̔͌̏e̾ͥ ̅͡f͆̋ͩ̒ͤr̉̂ͦͦ͏a͐̋ͯ̿̈̒m̅ͪ͂̏͜e̋́̿͞.ͥ̽͊̓́̿ͯ Yͮ̽͟oͨ̾͛ͨ͐u͆͝ ̓ͪ̌̋ͮ̉̏aͯͣ̌ͭ̍̇ȓͥ̇ͬ͜e̢ n̓o̢͌ͥ́ͩͪt̷͂͐̐͂ͦ ̧̋̚aͤ̀͐ͤ̀͝l̋̕l̴̂͋͌͒͗͌oͥ̍̓͠w͂̈̐̆̑ͪe̓d̕ ̵̋̀̿̃̓̌t̆̋ͦ̀oͪͩͬͭ̋̊͝ ͮ͘co̿͆͐͋ͨ͒͒͢n̛͌̑̅ͦ̂͆ti̅̃̉͛͆n̓̃̐̊̃͊u̎ͤ̀͏e̎̿͂ͪ̈́ ̢ͪͣ̓̏̂o͊ͦ̕n̓̓͊ͯ̚.́͌̇͋ ͌͊ͪ̃̀́P͠l͊ͯ̅ͭ̇͋͟e͋͠aͣͫͧ͒ͭͨs̐̽ͮ̇͐ͥ̊e̵̐̇̚ ͂̒c̀̇̉̍͆h̸ͣ̆͌ͪo͌͡o̓ͩ̊̆ͪ̎̚s̴ͩ̽̓̒e͗ͨ͠ ͥ̈́͊̾͋́̋aͫ̾́n̔̽ǫ̾ͭt́ͤ̂̃́ͯ͋h̓̽̓ë́ͦ̌͑͛̐͞r̛̎̄̀͗̃̃ͬ ͑ͤ͛̐̈́̓͑p̷̅ͥͩ̂ͯ͛ĺ͐͐̽͛͑ͫ͏åͮ̋͟y̷̌̈̌͆͆̍ͭer̄̐ͭͬ̕.̡ ̾̊̓Yͪo͂͆͗ͨ͏ů̅ͩ̓ ̶̌ͤ͆ͫ̎͊d̓̂̒̂̾o͋͗ͦ̉̊͢ņͭ̓'̨ͣͮ́̽t̓̄ͫ ̈́̇͋͊ͥ͊n͌̈́ͤ͊͐̂҉e̋͆é̃̾̈͗̒ͧ͝d͒ ̸̈́̔̍̐͊͋t̓̒̃͌̾͢ö́҉ k͐̓n̐̀̇̀̆̽ō̔̀̓w͆̓ ̷ͬ̾ͩ̉̈ͨͭw̛̒̐ͤͨ͑hͥ͒͗̎̚a̚t͗ ͆̑ͣͮ͐ͥ͠h̛́a͛̅̒͛҉p̏͗̒p̆ͪ͜e͛̊͐́͑n̆̇̽̑ͫs͋ͧͤͭ̐̑͝ ͣͪ̂҉t̑̅͛͂́̓õ̒̑ͩ ̵h̓̀͋̅̀͂i̽ͩ̿̂̓ͫ͌҉mͫ̋̍̅͐̓͛ ̔̈f̅͆̉̉͊ͩo͘r̈ ̓ͦn͗́̄ͪ̚ȍ͟w̏ͧͥ.̎̾̊

John= Wake from your glorious nap

You wake to the sound of a door opening.

“John?” A male voice says.

You turn your head to see your dad entering from the front door.

“Oh hey dad.” You yawn, rising from the couch.

He puts his briefcase and groceries down on the dining table. “Took a nap?”

“Uh yeah.” You’re confused. How did you fall asleep? You look at the coffee table to see plates left on it. On the plates are cake, well at least on two of them because the slices look untouched. The other two only have crumbs left.

Your father notices the plates. “Did you have guests over?”

“Just friends from school.” You say quickly.

“Is that so? Alright then.”

Okay good he bought it. You run upstairs.

Halfway up he yells out “Which is weird since you never invited friends from school. Ever.”

Shit. “There's a first time for everything!” You shout.

You immediately you head to your room. You shut the door and walk straight to the computer. For some reason you're compelled to check your pesterchum account.

As you log on you proceed to feel an odd feeling. While you were napping you had a very strange dream. A dream about flying in the sky. A dream with strange humanoid creatures in it. A dream about playing a game. The dream felt so realistic that you could have thought it actually happened. That's not possible though since last time you checked, you can't control the wind. Then again there are fuzzy bits. In one of these dreams you are met by frowning alien who happens to swear a lot. You joke around and tell him to calm down. In another you are holding red cloth with teal writing. You meet a girl at her doorstep before she stabs you with a rapier.

You shake away the thought. Anyway you’ve logged on and now you can see if you got any new messages.

You see one from your sister Jane and decide to answer it later. Currently she’s on a school trip and is not expected to come back until next week.

You see another from two other people you don’t recall knowing.

-ruinsDeity (RD) sent combined chat with carcinoGeneticist (CG)

CG: ATTENTION WORTHLESS HUMAN.  
CG: THIS IS YOUR GOD SPEAKING.  
CG: IT IS A WRATHFUL GOD WHO DESPISES YOU MORE THAN YOU COULD HAVE POSSIBLY DARED TO FEAR.  
CG: I HAVE WATCHED YOUR ENTIRE PATHETIC LIFE UNFOLD.  
CG: I HAVE OBSERVED YOU WHILE YOU WOULD QUAKE AND TREMBLE IN PERSONAL PRAYERS OF SHAME.  
CG: WHILE YOU PLEADED FORGIVENESS FOR BEING SUCH A WRETCHED DISGUSTING FAILURE ON EVERY CONCEIVABLE LEVEL.  
CG: PROSTRATE BEFORE THE STUPID AND FALSE CLOWN GODS YOU HAVE SCRIBBLED ON THE WALLS OF YOUR BLOCK.  
CG: BOGUS DEITIES WORSHIPED BY A PRIMITIVE "PARADISE" PLANET.  
CG: BUT YOUR PRAYERS WILL NOT BE ANSWERED.  
CG: THERE ARE NO MIRACLES IN STORE FOR YOU, HUMAN.  
CG: ONLY MY HATE.  
CG: IT IS A HATE SO PURE AND HOT IT WOULD CONSUME YOUR SAD UNDERDEVELOPED HUMAN THINK PAN TO EVEN CONTEMPLATE.  
CG: IT IS A HATE THAT TO FATHOM MUST BE PUT INTO SONG.  
CG: SHRIEKED BY THE TEN THOUSAND ROWDY SHOUT SPHINCTERS PEPPERING THE GRUESOME UNDERBELLY OF THE MOST TRUCULENT GOD THE FURTHEST RING CAN MUSTER.  
CG: IT IS A HATE THAT MADE YOU AND WILL SURELY DESTROY YOU.  
CG: MY HATE IS THE LIFEBLOOD THAT PULSES THROUGH THE VEINS OF YOUR UNIVERSE.  
CG: IT IS MY GIFT TO YOU.  
CG: YOU'RE WELCOME FOR THAT.  
CG: YOU UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF SHIT.  
RD: Okay excuse me what are you doing?  
CG: ANSWERING JOHN LIKE HOW I DID THE FIRST TIME I INTERACTED WITH HIM  
Wow you have a way with words.  
RD: A true poet.  
CG: HEY IF YOU DARE TRANSGRESS MY WORDINGS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THIS CHAT AND LEAVE IT TO MY SUPERIOR SKILLS  
RD: Can’t argue with that. Ha “life blood” so much for melodramatic.  
RD: Ugh my head still hurts. I probably won’t even remember doing this.  
RD: Anyways, good evening or whatever time you wake up.  
RD: If you don’t know who the heck we are, that means that the memories haven’t kicked in yet. Perhaps they are like dreams for you.  
RD: But if so I’ll introduce myself again.  
RD: My name is Fate Memori, normal sixteen year-old with not really a normal life.  
CG: I AM KARKAT VANTAS, YOUR GOD. BEFORE YOU FORGOT ABOUT HOW AWESOME I AM YOU WORSHIPPED ME AND YOU SHALL CONTINUE TO BASK IN MY GLORY. YOU CAN TAKE THIS AS THE MOMENT TO BOW DOWN TO THE SUPREME BEING.  
CG: ANY MOMENT NOW  
RD: Karkat stop. Seriously you are not helping.  
RD: Okay to speed this up so I can crash on a bed so I can sleep-  
RD: Karkat stop eating my fries!  
CG: THIS ROOM SERVICE THING IS AMAZING AND NO. YOU’RE ABOUT TO SLEEP ANYWAY  
CG: I’LL JUST SIT AND ROM-COMS I GUESS AS YOU SNORE YOUR ASS OFF

-ruinsDeity (RD) banned carcinoGenecist (CG) from chat

RD: Now that that's been taken care of I’ll get straight to the point.  
RD: Since we already discussed our names and now you know our pesterchums you can contact us anytime you want  
RD: Except now  
RD: Cause I have a headache  
RD: You can talk to us later though  
RD: And if you don’t remember than I guess you should just delete this and forget it ever existed. RD: Especially the part at the top  
RD: But it was nice seeing you again John  
RD: Bye I guess

-ruinsDeity (RD) left chat

And as stupid and cliche as it is you remember. The first thing you do is laugh.

Fate= Wake

You open your eyes to see yourself in an unfamiliar room. You spring up, realizing you are on a bed.

“Don’t move!” A voice says.

You flinch.

“Please, don’t shoot him! I love him!”

“You can do better than that rat Mary!”

“Nothing you can say will break us apart!”

Oh that’s right, you’re in a hotel. You and Karkat got a two-bed room for the night. You turn your gaze to the tv, which was turn on to a shitty movie.

“Really? A romantic-detective movie?” You moan.

Karkat grunts, his eyes glued to the screen. “I got bored of the romantic comedies. Go Mary, save the man you love!”

You notice the clock near your bed.

“It’s one in the morning!” You yell.

“Yeah, you doze off after we ate.”

You see plates scattered on the floor from the room service you ordered. “And you didn’t clean up?”

“Hmm.” He murmurs, no longer paying attention.

You roll your eyes and get off the bed. You crouch down and begin to pick up the plates then open the door so the maid could get it later. You then walk across the room and shut the t.v off.

“Hey, I wasn’t done!” Karkat scowls.

“Aren’t you tired? You should get some rest.” You say.

“How about no.” He yawns.

“I’m not convinced, now go to sleep or no more movies.”

He grunts and gets up from the floor. He then wearily makes his way to his bed grumbling. A few seconds you hear snoring. Turns out he was tired. Good.

You turn to your bag left on the desk. You walk towards it and open it to reveal a laptop. You turn it on and log onto pesterchum. You create a memo, hoping a certain asshat will answer.

ruinsDeity (RD) created Let’s Play Memo

RD:Hello Scratch  
hello there  
I see you are up late  
RD: I took a nap, I’m fine  
so it seems  
what did you want to discuss?  
RD: I believe the title of the memo will give you an idea  
Ah, yes.  
I assume you want to play now. Is that correct?  
RD: Well I didn’t have much of an option, did I?  
There is always an option, my dear. It just seems you chose the right one.  
RD: Well your methods and hints seem to have forced my hand. And now I play.  
Well with you introduced, it seems things may seem a bit more exciting.  
RD: That doesn’t change the fact I- our session is not truly part of the real end  
What do you mean?  
RD: Nothing, mind things really.  
RD: Of course I’m not here to talk about my session though  
RD: I’m here to talk about this one  
RD: About a negotiation so to speak  
And what do you want to negotiate about?  
RD:Well it’s pretty simple really-  
RD: Here you come, after three years telling me to play  
RD: And by coincidentally putting both a certain cool kid and crab in my path you convinced me  
RD: Two of which should have no connection to me but do  
RD: Now why is that?  
RD: Why do you send me two people with forgotten memories of their session, of how it ended, down my way?  
RD: Unless there was an exact reason.  
Huh you are very insightful.  
RD: I’ve been in my session long enough to understand how a game works  
RD: So besides this game, what other strings are you pulling?  
I’m not pulling any strings.  
Well not all the time.  
I’m just giving you an answer, a reason to your question long ago  
RD: I can’t comprehend what you mean.  
The unforgettable girl forgetting? Well you will remember soon enough  
Now surely this wasn’t the thing you wanted to negotiate about, was it?  
RD:... No. I was just questioning your true intentions.  
RD: Truth be told, I want the rules.  
Rules?  
RD: Your explanation was quite vague.  
RD: Simply “finding people” is not a great description  
RD: There should be order to this game correct?  
RD: We need to know to draw the line, right?  
You do offer a fair point.  
Give me a moment  
https://words.doc/pdf/document/d/612rgVct74tyvn314n3v80PSfu1111_1MGwk?/edit  
there , the link above should suffice  
Anything else?  
RD: A timer  
Timer?  
RD: Or to be more precise a countdown. A Countdown to this Final Round  
Ah, I understand.  
Now a countdown has been and can be added to any of the players’ mobile or electronic device who will be playing  
RD: Thank you  
If that is all I will bid you farewell  
RD: Alright  
And also, good luck with the game

ruinsDeity (RD) closed Let’s Play Memo

You frown at the last line. “Yeah right” you mutter under your breath. You click the link and it leads you to a new document.

Welcome Players! You have been lead to the “rules section” of the Game. Here are Rules and Instructions on how the Game works.

Basic scenario: You players have been sent to the planet called Earth, where very few of you remember Sburb/Sgrub actually happened. The rest of you are living ordinary lives unaware of it. Now, the world’s about to end in a certain set of days. This is when the final game of Sburb commences.

Goal: Find all players before time limit is up.

Tips, Rules, Instructions:  
1\. In each session there is one who remembers, you have to convince the others to remember  
-Note: All players can be located anywhere on Earth, making your task difficult  
2\. Besides the characters you know of there was another session with four other kids, Delta and you have to find them  
3\. Since you can't remember how the first level ended figure it out yourself.  
4\. I suggest you find and convince everyone of those players to join because you will need all the help you can get.  
5\. You all still have your powers, use them wisely and don't screw things up  
-Your powers are accessible once you remember  
-each time you use your powers there are consequences  
-Ex. Time- Amount of time you use will be taken away from timer (Or to what I see fit)  
6\. Try not to die  
-That will spoil the fun, won’t it?  
7\. Remember that I am still the one who is in control of this game  
The Countdown begins soon, you have 413 days to find everyone and prepare. Once that time limit is up, well the Game is going to start off with a Big Bang if you know what I mean. So I wish you good luck at trying to win. Because. It All. Starts. Now.  
8\. Anything goes, don’t hesitate to do what you must.

You look through the whole document, seeing that there’s not much written down. Everything seems very simple and is anything predictable.

You look at rule #1 and see that it’s stating what you have to do for this part of the game. “Okay, fair enough.”

Rule #2 individually points out your Delta session only. This is to be assumed that the majority of players are from both Dave and Karkat’s session and that they all have been acquainted with each other. That also means your group is the new bunch. Great.

#3 is an odd one to pinpoint. You know exactly how your session ended. Honestly it was a bullshit way to end it but yeah you sadly can’t forget. Perhaps it isn’t for you directly but for both Karkat and Dave. You do remember them talking about not knowing what happen to the end of their session. You need to ask Karkat that in the morning. 

The fourth one sounds like more of a suggestion rather than a rule. You do plan on finding everyone anyway- wait, do you? That one you have to think about later.

#5 is actually pretty useful knowledge. So time players, when they use their powers it reduces time on the countdown. Good to know. You also have to consider the other eleven aspects. Hopefully the price of using the your powers isn't too hard.

...Okay #6 is really stupid. Or it's really unnecessary. A statement written down only to spark fear in those who play. Even mentioning the thing, reminds you of your past mistakes.The thing written below it makes it sound even crueler. It takes the patience not to scream while Karkat sleeps. He needs the rest and you both don't want to yell about this shit and wake the other guests in the hotel.

#7 is also a big fuck you. Of course he’d shove his authority here. He only included that to prove that he’s more powerful and that you have no chance of winning. We’ll see about that.

Finally there’s #8. That sounds both risky and dangerous. No concrete rules may apply to this part of the Game but that doesn’t mean you can’t get in trouble with the government. You also haven't met the rest of the players. Who knows how crazy or willing they would be just to play to survive the apocalypse.

After thoroughly reading the list you check your phone, noticing a new app installed. It has a photo of a house on it. The Sburb symbol. Upon clicking the app it gives you an update of powers used.

-Tempus Mutatur used!  
-Time taken away: five hours!  
-Penalty: minus one day

-Memento Memoriae used!  
-Penalty: classified info

You dismiss the update, considering to take a better look at it later. You are then taken to another screen, again with the Sburb symbol loading. Below the symbol is the countdown. On it it says-

-411 days until reset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone who got through that long chapter- Well for one thing thanks for reading it! I'm glad that people still read despite the fact Homestuck is over and that people still create fanfics. Uh...I think that's it. So once again thank you for reading it, I hoped you enjoyed it and sorry for the long delay.
> 
> Next Chapter: To Our Darling Ladies
> 
> See you next chapter!


	11. (Author's Note)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not an actual chapter but go on to read anyway.

So hi people who are reading this! I haven't updated and a while and the best explanation to give is that, high school is horrible. (Not really it's just that there is so much work) Anyway, out of all the fanfics this one is the largest considering how there's so many parts to it. Like For example the Countdown and then the actual game and then the Epilogue. So technically one in progress and two more parts to go. Because i'm so busy I'll just tel you that there will random times where I will update and that it won't be consistent (like it ever was.) Anyway to those still reading the fic ( aww thanks) I will give you a preview of the next chapter : To Our Darling Ladies.

EB: dave!  
EB: it’s me, john!  
TG: no way  
TG: this is actually happening  
TG: oh my shit  
EB: dave! Hi!  
EB: i’m pretty sure you’re confused as I am here  
EB: but I got my memories back! mainly because Karkat and some girl did this mindy thing on my head.  
EB: heck, i’m still dizzy from that  
EB: but it’s weird, it feels like it happened but it also didn’t  
EB: i’ll never understand time shenanigans :B  
TG: please tell me this actually you  
TG: like i’m not dreaming  
TG: that i’m not gonna wake up alone in my house with a smuppet rump in my face  
EB: ew dave, that’s gross  
EB: and i’m pretty sure this is real.  
EB: i mean the girl did this weird memory thing  
EB: and it seemed really real  
EB: and if it’s not this is the best prank someone’s ever done on me  
TG: wait karkat and this other girl  
TG: the girl with the silver eyes that don’t seem real but are  
TG: like silver like the moon  
TG: i mean i know the moon isn’t actually silver  
TG: shit  
TG: oh shit  
TG: they actually did it  
TG: i think i could actually kiss you right now  
EB: dave no  
EB: no homo bro  
TG: shut up it’s a platonic kiss  
EB: oh. well okay then. as long as it’s not on the lips

 

So thank you and enjoy that thing. Until next time where i update shenanigans.


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